JCPenney 2005 Annual Report Download - page 4

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have taken place at JCPenney in recent years. The most visible of these
efforts was the JCPenney Experience, a 15,000 square-foot virtual store
opened in Times Square in New York City for three weeks in March 2006 to
coincide with our exclusive retail sponsorship of the Academy Awards.
Along with star-studded special events and a series of related promotions,
the JCPenney Experience marked the largest branding event in our
Company’s 104-year history. This spectacular effort achieved its goals of
reinforcing our commitment to offering current customers exciting styles at
prices they can afford and communicating to new customers that it really
is “all inside” at JCPenney.
make JCPenney an easy
and exciting place to shop
When we need to quickly describe our
customer, we say that she has “too little time, too little
money, and two little kids.” We understand that our
customer simply does not have time for hassle and
inconvenience, so our goal is to make it both easy and
exciting for her to shop with us. A key element of achieving
this goal is to makethe shopping experience as seamless
as possible, whether in our store, shopping from one of our
catalogs, or online at jcp.com.
nCONNECTIVITY IN OUR STORES: In 2005, we launched the rollout of a
new point-of-sale system that reduces transaction time and provides
Internet connectivity at each of the 35,000 point-of-sale registers within
our stores. These new Internet enabled point-of-sale registers provide
customers quick and easy access to our vast system-wide assortment of
merchandise. Todate, we have converted 430 stores to this system, and
we expect to complete all stores by August 2006. In addition to this
system, we are currently developing in-store jcp.com kiosks and hand-
held devices for our sales associates, designed to makethe shopping
experience easier and faster.
nIMPROVING THE EXPERIENCE IN OUR STORES: The technology we are
installing in our stores will makethe checkout process easier and help to
ensurethat we provide the merchandise our customers want. New
technology helps, but it is only part of the story. We are also taking steps
to provide our customers with better service, an improved appearance,
and an overall better experience than in the past. Wehave redesigned
our store staffing model to ensure that all on-duty associates are
dedicated to helping customers, with all shelf-stocking and other
replenishment processes being performed when the stores areclosed.
We’re using more higher-capacity and visually appealing fixtures to
showcase our merchandise on the selling floor that enable our
customers to easily access what they want. This includes areas
highlighting specific brands or particular “looks,” which let our
customers quickly and easily learn how to bring pieces together in a
fashionable way.Additionally,all store signage is now coordinated with
our marketing and advertising campaigns, creating a consistent
appearance and making it even easier for our customers to find the
brands and items they arelooking for when they come into our stores.
nINDUSTRY-LEADING WEBSITE: We are also extending the improved
shopping experience beyond the store. Our customers can also find the
styles they want at jcp.com, which provides an easy way for them to
purchase items they have seen in our catalog. The results speak for
themselves, with online sales passing the $1 billion mark in early January
2006 - a year earlier than we expected - and giving jcp.com the title of the
largest online retailer of general merchandise.
nEXCITING STORE OPENINGS AND EXPANDING NEW OFF-MALL
PRESENCE: We are not only growing online. In 2005, we opened 18
stores, the most we have opened in one year since the mid-1990s. Of
these new stores, 11 are off-mall, a store format that customers find
convenient - and one that is proving to be extremely successful for us.
We currently have a total of 22 off-mall stores, and 20 of the 27 stores
we expect to open in 2006 will be in this format.
make JCPenney
agreat place to work
The associates at JCPenney experienced
several rough years followed by a difficult turnaround
period. They weathered the storm with fortitude and have
come through it with a stronger-than-ever determination
to win. We are fortunate to have a superb team of
approximately 151,000 associates, and together we are
now focused on making JCPenney a great place to work.
nWINNING TOGETHER: During the summer of 2005 we launched our
WINNING TOGETHER program, which includes eight fundamental
principles that were developed based on the heritage of our Company
and feedback from our associates. These principles - which define the
way we work and WIN together to achieve superior financial performance -
include: valuing, developing, and rewarding the contributions of all
associates; acting only with the highest ethical standards; providing
coaching and feedback so that associates can perform at their highest
level; celebrating the achievements of others; fostering open and honest
communication and respect; achieving excellence in our work, products,
and services; and encouraging creative thinking and intelligent risk taking.
nBUILDING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE: Our WINNING TOGETHER principles
also include caring about our communities. Consistent with this, we are
working actively to build a diverse workforce that reflects the
communities we serve and fosters an inclusive environment for those
who work at JCPenney and shop with us.
nASSOCIATE ENGAGEMENT SURVEY: We greatly respect the input of our
associates. Given this, in the fall we conducted our first engagement survey,
which measured associate views of our Company and helped us to determine
how best to achieve our Long Range Plan objectives. The responses we
received strongly indicate that our associates believe in our Plan as the road
map to WINNING.
nSTORE MANAGER LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE: Another exciting “first”
was our StoreManagers meeting conducted in January 2006 - the first
such meeting in six years. All Store Managers traveled to Dallas to
discuss the alignment of store priorities with the objectives of the Long
Range Plan. The focus of the two-day meeting was the StoreManagers’
role in improving customer satisfaction, engaging store associates, and
achieving consistent, profitable sales growth. We also emphasized the
importance of the role of the Store Manager as CEO of his or her store.
Not unexpectedly,all of the initiatives weremet with great enthusiasm.
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strategy three
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strategy two