Communication styles of JC Penny v. Sears Term Paper

Communication styles of JC Penny v. Sears - Term Paper Example Penny Company Inc. is one of the largest chains of American mid-range department stores, catalogue, and e-commerce retailers; with headquarters in Piano, Texas. It operates over 1, 100 departmental stores in U.S’s 50 states, Mexico, Chile and Puerto Rico (JC Penney 2012). It also runs 49 Renner department stores in Brazil. J.C. Penny began as a partnership between James Cash Penney, Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan on April 14, 1902. The three created two more stores. In 1907, Johnson and Callahan dissolved their partnership and Penney purchased full interest in all three locations. In order to be closer to banks and railroads, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1909. The stores expanded and by 1912, there were 34 stores in Rocky Mountain States. The following year, all the stores were consolidated under the name J.C. Penney with William Henry McManus as co-founder. The company’s expansion was mainly due to its diversity of products and affo rdability. After much struggle in the 1970s, following stiff competition from upstart companies such as Wal-Mart that sold goods at discounted prices, the company reverted to a fashion oriented marketing strategy in the 1980s. It also moved its headquarters from New York to Texas, which reduced operational costs. The company was the first to sell zero coupon bonds in the public market. JCP stores are mainly located in suburban shopping malls, which is strategic in its operations. With about 1100 stores in America’s 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and Mexico, it is the second largest department store retailer and the largest catalogue merchant in the America. J.C Penny mainly targets juniors. The company focuses on value-priced fashion with an emphasis on classification and key-items focussed merchandising. JC Penney focuses on its pricing vis-a-vis its competition. Also, it focuses on providing mid-tier fashions in the malls. Its stores are located in attractive markets, tha t attract customers. It increasingly incorporating Sephora inside its locations, aimed at upgrading customers’ experiences in the stores. For the year ending January 2012, the company made sales totalling $17,260.0M and realized an annual growth of 2.8%; its net income for the year amounting to $152.0M (JC Penny 2012). 1.1 Background of Sears Holdings Corporation Sears Holdings Corporation is America’s fourth largest broad-line retailer with over 4,000 full-line and specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. Its headquarters are based in Hoffman Estates, Ill. It became a multi channel store when it opened its first store to complement its catalogue channel which was launched in 1886 (Sears 2009). It provides quality merchandise and exceptional service, leading in retail of appliances, tools, lawn and garden, consumer electronics, and automotive repair and maintenance. The company provides diversified products through a wide range of retail channels. It was crowned the 2011 Energy Star Retail Partner of the year. Its leading brands are mKenmore, Craftsman and Diehard along with broad apparel offering including well known labels as Lands’ End, Jaclyn Smith and Jose Boxer, the Apostrophe and Covington brands. It is the