Lois Brayfield, CEO
J.C. Penney is joining the ranks of legacy brands that have gone stale but willing to change the rules rather than follow the pack. Like a gecko changing the way people think about insurance or Apple changing the way we think about music, J.C. Penney is changing the way customers think about pricing.
Keeping it simple, their “Fair and Square” pricing scheme is well executed across channels, including their newly launched look book. To complement the square theme, they’ve introduced a square logo, a square book and have utilized square graphics throughout. In the opening spread they admit to their 110 year age but boldly state they are going to be “rethinking and reimagining” so that customers “will love shopping again.”
The look book delivers exactly as promised and while many of the traditional catalog design rules are broken, energy and excitement are delivered with bold colors and emotionally-charged photography. With their promise to “reimagine” the catalog reaches out with relevant themes including the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl and other pop culture and social media themes, some having nothing to do about shopping (i.e. “Where in the World is Roger?”) Overall the design and copy are fun and simple … just like their pricing promise.
With this new look, J.C. Penney will most likely attract a much broader audience but in order to sustain this new attention they still must offer merchandise that resonates. The apparel throughout the book seems to be a bit more hip than their usual assortment (or is it just the new way they are packaging it?) but they are still offering the basics at a value. While it’s never safe to compete on price alone, this new strategy is also offering simplicity and fun.
But in their boldness they may have forgotten how to create a seamless shopping experience across all channels. The good news is the catalog mirrors the online experience in which the book and pricing theme are immediately served up. In fact, one is able to click on any item on any page and place it into the shopping cart.
Sadly, the print version neglects to create a strong call to action in which the consumer is told how to shop the catalog online. There are slight nods to the URL but the overall take-away is this is a retail traffic driver without any item numbers or reference to the online ability to shop the same book. And in their new thinking they may have neglected their most powerful pages, those being the front and back covers.
Customers may never get to the inside of the catalog and may miss the entire point without any nod to their new pricing theme or reenergized brand. In fact, if one were to see the back cover only with only their new logo (that customers might now recognize) and a cat, one might think they received something from a pet catalog. Truly a missed opportunity!
In this new economy, it’s not enough to alter the course, sometimes you must turn the ship around. Clearly, J.C. Penney is breaking with tradition and starting over in a bold new way but with a purpose. Big kudos.
Originally published, Multichannel Merchant February 2012
Tags: catalog design, J.C. Penny, Lois Brayfield