JCPenney news
JCPenney Bolsters jcp.com with New Features
New Online ‘Screenbusters’ – Highlighting Stylish, High-Quality Gifts at Affordable Prices – Provide Outstanding Value
PLANO, Texas (Nov. 25, 2008) – With “Cyber Monday” just around the corner on December 1, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) has launched new enhancements to jcp.com – JCPenney’s largest store with more than 250,000 stylish, high-quality merchandise offerings at affordable prices. Making shopping online easier and more convenient than ever, these new features include an enhanced homepage, the addition of customer reviews, enhanced product images and information, as well as the introduction of new online “Screenbusters” – the online version of the Company’s popular in-store “Doorbusters.”
“As the hub of our enterprise, jcp.com has become an important vehicle for engaging our customers with the JCPenney brand. These new enhancements – just in time for ‘Cyber Monday’ – are yet another example of how we continue to build a leading multi-channel experience that makes shopping JCPenney easier and more exciting for our customers,” said Mike Boylson, chief marketing officer for JCPenney. “We are focused on adding conveniences to jcp.com that will enhance our customers’ overall shopping experience –particularly during this busy shopping season – while showcasing the array of stylish, high-quality gifts at affordable prices that can be found at jcp.com.”
New enhancements to jcp.com:
• Introducing jcp.com “Screenbusters” – Along with free shipping offers, customers visiting jcp.com this “Cyber Monday” can also expect to see “screen busters.” Similar to JCPenney’s highly successful in-store “Doorbuster” specials, “Screenbusters” feature exciting items available online – at very affordable prices – for a limited period of time. Along with a free shipping offer on purchases of $25 or more, special offers on “Cyber Monday” will include the following “Screenbusters:”
• My Sports Gaming System – a 5-in-1 interactive sports game system with wireless remote controls that responds to your movement – for $38.88
• Kidz digital camera kit for $18.88
• Cyber Gear digital camcorder for $38.88
• Sharper Image digital camera binoculars for $28.88
• Tribot talking robot companion for $78.88
• Enhanced Homepage – In an effort to provide an even easier and exciting shopping experience for its customers, JCPenney has added new features to the jcp.com homepage such as a new “Shop this Sale Online” or “Shop this Sale in Store” buttons, showing customers various ways they can save, no matter which shopping channel they choose. This holiday season, customers can also find a “Gifts” tab on the homepage linking them to a special section within jcp.com that highlights JCPenney’s gift assortment, including its “red box gifts™” collection.
• Customer Reviews – This new feature enables JCPenney customers to view, create and share their experiences with JCPenney products through comments, video, photos and even via their favorite social media networking site such as Facebook, Digg, or del.icio.us.
• Enhanced Product Images and Information – Product gallery pages now provide a larger image of the merchandise items, making it easier for customers to view the assortment at a glance. Along with the larger images, a new “quick view” feature in the product gallery pages allows customers to view key product details such as product description, available sizes and more. On the product page itself, alternate images, an improved zoom tool, and enhanced color swatch capabilities, enable customers to feel even more confident about the purchase decisions they make for themselves and their families.
While the holiday shopping season is often a peak purchase period for online retailers, JCPenney has also learned that that customers are increasingly searching the Internet before ever stepping foot in a store. In fact, extensive customer research conducted by jcp.com found that a large number of customers are online for a purpose other than shopping – including viewing merchandise, comparing prices, finding sales and promotions, exploring tips and ideas, and more. Consider the following:
? Nearly 70 percent of jcp.com customers said they were there to do something other than purchase online, such as research merchandise and promotions.
? 80 percent of jcp.com visitors have purchased from a JCPenney store and 33 percent have purchased from a JCPenney catalog
Along with jcp.com’s recent enhancements, customers can continue to enjoy an array of innovative features on jcp.com that help them shop smarter this season:
• Customers can check store merchandise availability online before they visit their local JCPenney store. Using jcp.com, customers can select any item tagged with “ALSO IN STORES” or “IN STORES ONLY,” enter their size, color, etc., and then enter their ZIP code for a list of nearby stores that have the particular item in stock. Updated each hour, customers can view a list of stores up to a 50-mile radius from the original ZIP code entered that have the designated item in-stock. Store address, phone number, hours, and driving directions are also provided.
• Customers can also check out JCPenney’s new weekly online video, “What’s In Store,” at www.jcp.com/whatsinstore. Hosted by JCPenney’s weekly “store shoppers” Rebecca and Karissa, the streaming video will highlight for customers various gift ideas and trends throughout the store this season. Customers seeking to access the video from jcp.com can click on “Stores” tab, then click on “watch store video” under the Special Events heading listed in the left navigation.
• Customers visiting jcp.com can also view JCPenney’s weekly sales circulars to check out the latest special offers and discounts available at their local store. Users can simply flip through each page of the weekly sales circular online or browse the latest deals by department or by brand, as well as print coupons and even create their own shopping list to use when visiting their local store. Users can also forward deals to friends and sign up to have weekly reminders sent to their personal e-mail. Users can also forward deals to friends and sign up to have weekly reminders sent to their personal e-mail.
• Customers can also enjoy easy pick-up and returns. Customers receive an immediate refund as well as free return shipping for any online or catalog purchase returned to any of JCPenney’s more than 1400 store/catalog desks locations across the nation. Additionally, most items bought online or via catalog can easily be shipped to any local JCPenney store for pick-up, conveniently saving customers time and money during this busy shopping season.
• JCPenney’s ship-to-store option should be very popular this season with customers who are flying home, but hoping to avoid airlines’ checked-bag fees and wrapped gifts restrictions. Instead of packing a checked bag full of unwrapped gifts, customers can opt to travel with a simple carry-on by purchasing gifts for all their loved ones ahead of time on jcp.com and having them shipped to any of JCPenney’s 1400 store/catalog desks across the nation. Additionally, for as little as $5 a package, jcp.com customers can opt to have their gift wrapped, or – should they want to wrap their gift(s) themselves – they can simply choose from an array of gift wrap options, found next to all JCPenney store catalog desks – the same location where they will go pick up their shipped gift.
• For true last-minute gift purchases, jcp.com offers the ultimate in speed and convenience: e-gift cards. Once purchased, an e-gift card usually lands in a customers’ e-mail inbox in a matter of hours and can be forwarded to a recipient to use for online purchases or printed out to use in stores.
For further information contact:
JCPenney Corporate Communications (business and trade media relations):
Rebecca Winter or Kate Parkhouse; 972-431-3400; jcpcorpcomm@jcpenney.com
About JCPenney
JCPenney is one of America's leading retailers, operating 1,093 department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as one of the largest apparel and home furnishing sites on the Internet, jcp.com, and the nation's largest general merchandise catalog business. Through these integrated channels, JCPenney offers a wide array of national, private and exclusive brands which reflect the Company's commitment to providing customers with style and quality at a smart price. Traded as "JCP" on the New York Stock Exchange, the Company posted revenue of $19.9 billion in 2007 and is executing its strategic plan to be the growth leader in the retail industry. Key to this strategy is JCPenney's "Every Day Matters" brand positioning, intended to generate deeper, more emotionally driven relationships with customers by fully engaging the Company's 155,000 Associates to offer encouragement, provide ideas and inspire customers every time they shop with JCPenney. For more information visit www.jcpenney.net.
About jcp.com
jcp.com is JCPenney’s largest, most dynamic store, offering the largest assortment in sizes, colors and year-round product categories well beyond the scope of JCPenney’s store-based offerings. jcp.com is one of the largest general merchandise sites on the Internet and the hub of JCPenney’s multi-channel strategy, which includes three integrated shopping channels: stores, jcp.com and catalog. jcp.com provides an array of information on more than 250,000 exciting merchandise offerings as well as tips and ideas through a variety of online “Solution” pages. Available at more than 35,000 point-of-sale, in-store registers, store Associates are able to use jcp.com to stock-check merchandise in all JCPenney stores as well as place orders on jcp.com, allowing them to engage in the highest level of customer service. All jcp.com orders can be easily shipped, and returned with an immediate refund, to more than 1,000 locations across the country including stores and catalog desks.