J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson has outlined his plans to make the retailer a “mall within a mall,” including in-store shops and a central “town square.”  In August, the company introduced free haircuts for kids for the back-to-school period. In the Levi’s shop denim bar, J.C. Penney has added iPads.   Store traffic in the first 10 days of the back-to-school season declined much less than in the first-half while sales were about 2 percent better than the spring.

 

If the company starts and ends with back-to-school haircuts and jean store iPads, the strategy won’t amount to much, but Johnson may be onto something. As we have recently written, consumers are now valuing experiences above all else, and if J.C. Penney is able to transform itself from a retailer to a provider of experiences, then they will be on the path to success.

 

What kind of experience will work is, of course, the critical question.  In the past, shopping, itelf, was the experience, but online capabilities have undermined the shopping experience and made it cumbersome…and often more expensive.  Various apps that provide “check in” can appeal to some and real-world games have had some appeal, but they are not likely to last.  Restaurants have learned that experience is not just ambience but is a focus on the food, with the biggest successful experiences coming to those restaurants that focus on the local-foods, farm-to-table model.  These feature locally grown produce from named farms and offer clientele the opportunity to visit the farms and participate in food and wine tasting related to the local-food experience.

 

Retailers might need to think through the restaurant example to find the kinds of experiences that physical retailers can use — selling internationally produced goods that look like those on sale everywhere else could become a market loser.

 

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