JCPenney CEO Marc Rosen has no intention of adding to the retailer's 15-year list of failed turnaround attempts anchored in bold, flashy moves. In the late 2000s, it tried to be fashion-forward. That bombed. Then in 2012, the department store ditched the coupons it was famous for to focus on higher-end brands, confusing shoppers and dropping sales by 25%, or $4 billion, in the first year. Some years later, JCPenney reentered the big-ticket home appliance category—and whiffed that too. For years, trying everything and anything was the retailer's modus operandi.
But these days, Rosen, named CEO in October 2021—17 months after JCPenney filed for bankruptcy protection—is focused on retail 101. It's the essential but less sexy basics like having merchandise in stock and in season, selling products customers want, and operating a website that meets shopper expectations. Rosen says his strategy boils down to winning more business from existing customers and zeroing in on shoppers of color, his core customers, rather than chasing new, younger customers who never became loyal shoppers under earlier reinvention attempts.
