JCPenney to resume appliance sales

[storewanderer]

Macys consolidates its online order pick up to one register in the store and has a sticker on the entrances that shows where to go. It is a little confusing here in Reno (and in many California Stores) where Macys has multiple stores in the same mall. So here in Reno if your item is a childrens item or womens item of any kind you pick up on the second floor of the women's store in the juniors department. If the item is a men's item of any kind or home item of any kind you pick up in the second floor of the men's store in the towel department. The website doesn't exactly tell you this when you order, you just sort of have to know.

I did about 5 Macys buy online pick up in store transactions and my pick up wait was 2-3 minutes each time. The order was picked accurately every time and pre-bagged so they could just hand it right over to me. I felt the experience was good but could have done without the long walks to the second floor of each store but I know why they did that.

Macys also fulfilled my orders very quickly; I received confirmation typically within an hour of placing the order. It is my understanding Macys uses RFID tags on many items and this helps them quickly locate items to "pick" for these orders. They have employees in the store whose specific task is to pick items for those orders (those people also serve as "personal shoppers" I guess, not sure who uses that service).

Having to go to a different register in every single department for order pick up as described here for JCP is completely unacceptable. This is the type of example of why JCP is going to fail. They are flat out clueless. This is inefficient, a waste of labor, and a hassle to customers. I bet if you order five items from five departments, five different employees each have to go pick the item from their own department, package it up, go to the computer and say they picked it, etc. That is a bit much.

[pseudo3d]

Non-centralized checkout is probably one of the reasons why the department store model is failing. By the way, the local catalog pickup at my local mall's Penney's became a "jcp.com" counter for a while, though I don't know what it's like now.

[Super S]

Non-centralized checkout is probably one of the reasons why the department store model is failing. By the way, the local catalog pickup at my local mall's Penney's became a "jcp.com" counter for a while, though I don't know what it's like now.

The sad thing is that JCPenney actually does have centralized checkouts in their newer standalone stores. But there are others where there is not only no register by the doors, but not even a service counter or anything else where employees congregate within eyesight of those doors. Can't be good from a loss prevention standpoint. You can literally walk in and walk right back out without seeing an employee sometimes.

[storewanderer]

The Reno JCP had service counters/registers right at every single door until a recent remodel to add a "Sephora" area took place. This resulted in the elimination of the checkouts that were near the exterior entry so when you walk into the store you see a few racks of clothing and the back side of the Sephora area. No checkout in sight. They had a guard standing at the door during much of the holiday season this year since that bonehead change.

I remember the JCP.com pick up counter; I remember doing an order about 5 years ago and picking up at the local store's former catalog counter. Currently, the catalog counter in the JCP in my town is still there but it is dark and the area where it was is now surrounded by luggage and children's clothing (yeah I don't quite get it either).

That is another area that has exterior doors but is nowhere near any employee.

[Super S]

So it looks like some stores in California, Texas, and Florida now have appliance departments:

http://www.jcpenney.com/for-the-home/vi ... cmJCP_C=D1

The brand selection, however, is basically limited to GE/Hotpoint, Samsung, and LG. That's all. While they are popular brands, they aren't necessarily regarded as the best in their categories. Missing are brands that competitors carry such as Whirlpool and their related brands, as well as Frigidaire, Bosch, and others.

JCPenney is going to have to eventually add a few more brands to make this work. People are not going to flock to an appliance department where selection is limited to only a couple brands.

[wnetmacman]

Non-centralized checkout is probably one of the reasons why the department store model is failing. By the way, the local catalog pickup at my local mall's Penney's became a "jcp.com" counter for a while, though I don't know what it's like now.

The sad thing is that JCPenney actually does have centralized checkouts in their newer standalone stores. But there are others where there is not only no register by the doors, but not even a service counter or anything else where employees congregate within eyesight of those doors. Can't be good from a loss prevention standpoint. You can literally walk in and walk right back out without seeing an employee sometimes.

One of my two local JCP stores, a standalone store, has a few non-centralized checkouts in the store now. Seems they can't keep enough folks in the centralized checkout to keep it flowing. Also, during the Ron Johnson failed remodel, they took out half of the registers.

The brand selection, however, is basically limited to GE/Hotpoint, Samsung, and LG. That's all. While they are popular brands, they aren't necessarily regarded as the best in their categories. Missing are brands that competitors carry such as Whirlpool and their related brands, as well as Frigidaire, Bosch, and others.

JCPenney is going to have to eventually add a few more brands to make this work. People are not going to flock to an appliance department where selection is limited to only a couple brands.

Home Depot and Best Buy have limited assortments (as far as I'm concerned; mabye Sears and Lowe's spoiled me for life). Best Buy seems to sell a ton of appliances, and they do sell Whirlpool. Home Depot doesn't carry as much, but they also carry Whirlpool. Most of the Kenmore were once made by them as well.

[BatteryMill]

Well, what an unexpected move! I would have never expected them to bring back more hardline-related things. This however wouldn't have fit in my nearest (closed) JCP...

[J-Man]

I saw a TV commercial for JCPenney announcing the fact that they were starting to sell major appliances, but the ad made it clear that they would be available online only (i.e., at jcpenney.com) and not in stores. I think that's going to be interesting -- how many people buy major appliances without seeing them? (Of course they can always go look at them at another store, but with price-matching these days, Penney's might lose a lot of sales.)

[Super S]

I saw a TV commercial for JCPenney announcing the fact that they were starting to sell major appliances, but the ad made it clear that they would be available online only (i.e., at jcpenney.com) and not in stores. I think that's going to be interesting -- how many people buy major appliances without seeing them? (Of course they can always go look at them at another store, but with price-matching these days, Penney's might lose a lot of sales.)

http://www.jcpenney.com/for-the-home/ap ... R-_-BROWSE

This is very confusing now. Plain as day it says "NEW AND ONLINE ONLY" yet off to the side where it says "find a store" it gives a list of the stores that have added the appliance departments. Maybe they are offering online sales to areas where they do not have appliance departments yet? I just hope they aren't resorting to the way Sears/Kmart does things...trying new concepts then abandoning them after only rolling them out in a small number of stores.

[BillyGr]

I saw a TV commercial for JCPenney announcing the fact that they were starting to sell major appliances, but the ad made it clear that they would be available online only (i.e., at jcpenney.com) and not in stores. I think that's going to be interesting -- how many people buy major appliances without seeing them? (Of course they can always go look at them at another store, but with price-matching these days, Penney's might lose a lot of sales.)

http://www.jcpenney.com/for-the-home/ap ... R-_-BROWSE

This is very confusing now. Plain as day it says "NEW AND ONLINE ONLY" yet off to the side where it says "find a store" it gives a list of the stores that have added the appliance departments. Maybe they are offering online sales to areas where they do not have appliance departments yet? I just hope they aren't resorting to the way Sears/Kmart does things...trying new concepts then abandoning them after only rolling them out in a small number of stores.

It would make sense that they would have them available online and maybe at least starting with only some stores to see how it works out.

For one thought, there are probably still a few of those small JC Penney stores out there that wouldn't have the space for something like appliances?
Also, if they are available online they could likely coordinate deliveries to the stores that don't carry them for those who want them in those locations?