(Updated, 11:40 a.m.) JC Penney brings back coupons
(Update, 11:40 a.m.:
I received this message from Kate Coultas, a JC Penney representative:
“…Along with a return to targeted, meaningful sales offering even lower prices – which we announced in January – we will now also be offering coupons as an extra shopping incentive around key shopping periods and as an invitation to welcome customers to check out the exciting new brands and shops now available at jcpenney. Today’s coupon is great timing as our new Joe Fresh shops open this week. While we are not disclosing the exact number of planned coupons for competitive reasons, we won’t feature nearly as many as we used to do before the transformation. The purpose of our renewed promotion strategy is very simple: drive traffic to our stores by reconnecting with our core customers and enticing new customers to try jcp.”
For more information about the Joe Fresh shop, click the link below to read my column from March 2 or visit Amanda Codispoti’s Storefront blog.
End update)
Well, something must have changed between now and my update on JC Penney on March 2 — there’s a new JC Penney coupon available today.
Click here and you’ll find a coupon offering $10 off a $50 purchase. Print the coupon out to use in stores or use the code SPENDIT for online orders. This coupon expires on Sunday, March 17.
I’ve contacted a JC Penney rep and hope to have more information about the return of coupons by this afternoon. I’ll update as I learn more.
March 13, 2013 - 11:43 AM
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So, they’re keeping the lower quality merchandise, but they’ll increase prices enough to offset the coupon pricing? Yeah, that’s pretty elemental retail hypocrisy. I can’t wait to hear how many fools rush back into their ‘loving arms’, for another retail beatdown.
‘Why no! They’d NEVER lower quality on us! Why, they LOVE us…’
Yeah, that’s why they beat you down the first time, and why, time after time, you’ll come back for another retail beatdown. I guarantee we’ll see the same – ‘Why, they offer better service than ever! their products are better than ever’, along with all the other enabling excuses we’ve already heard…
To be perfectly blunt, in terms of my shopping habits (except for some items), I’m checking a thrift shop first to see if I can find what I’m looking for. If I can’t find it through one of the 5-6 I frequent, then I’ll try Walmart or another box store. If they don’t have it, then I might attempt a department store…assuming it’s not something readily available via Amazon or other online retailer. 99.5% of the time I can find what I’m looking for, or a very close alternative, before I exhaust the discount retailers or online options…assuming I can’t find an acceptable second-hand item first.
And while I could afford to drop $30 on a shirt of questionable durability…why would I? I can pick up 8 at Goodwill for the same price. Even if their durability is iffy…at that price, I’m getting 8x the use for the same price. And, most of the time what I buy at a thrift shop is new, or so close to new it’s hard to tell that it’s not.
But a decade ago, I did shop JC Penney fairly frequently. I’d get slacks, dress shirts, ties, and other items there. We also got a fair bit of household items there too, because they sold some unique items we couldn’t find elsewhere. But as they have struggled to adapt to the changing marketplace, we’ve gone less and less. The last time I was in one was a couple years ago, and only because I was cutting through their store to the mall because of where I parked.
I used to shop jcpenny online almost exclusively for pants and shirts since I need tall or xtall sizes and cannot locate them at thrift or big box stores. But, no more. The constant clearance prices no longer allow them to keep stock (if they ever had it). So, I quit wasting my time even looking there and have moved on to other online merchants. I rarely go to a mall store anymore and never downtown. No where to park downtown and too many undesirable people at the malls.
Sorry but for $30 I can buy 8 shirts plus some other items shopping sales and clearance at kohls with a coupon. Why would you spend $30 on 8 used shirts? I just went to macys and only spent $32 with tax for 8 items which included 2 pairs of Levis and a Calvin Klein dress shirt. I would never get the awesome prices or great quality shopping at Goodwill or Walmart. Walmart has terribly high prices with low quality items.