The Best Online Company

Case Study: The Best Online Company

When J.C. Penny closed 44 under-performing stores in early 2001, many people were predicting that the century old and mid-ranged priced department store chain might close its business. However, J.C. Penny knew how to create synergy between different avenues of sales and began implementing its new way of business. Transferring to online focused business was easily accepted for J.C. Penny because the company had a long history of experience selling to customers through its printing catalog. The company made its efforts to continually adapt its existing business resources to a new trend of internet business strategy in order to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers. J.C. Penny integrated its web presence with its in-store and catalog sales to create more synergy and more retail power, and the web provided a more powerful catalog for J.C. Penny so that the company could reach millions of potential customers. J.C. Penny’s restructuring strategy worked out and began to show improved results for the company. The company integrated its online offerings with its retail stores and catalog sales to create more marketing synergy and more retail power, increasing its sales from $15 million in 1998 to more than $18.5 billion in 2009.[1] In fact, J.C. Penny shows one of the best business cases which illustrates its successful transition from traditional retailer to, what they call, the bricks and clicks model.

Although J.C. Penny’s online sales accounted for 6 percent of total sales, it was considered as valuable and its impact on the total sales of the company was very important with the following reasons. Firstly, Penny’s online customers are considerably younger than its in-store customers. Younger generation grows up with the internet as a daily and routine part of their lives and represents an important demographic to the internet business these days. J.C. Penny’s online business along with...