What's Old is New Again: JCPenney goes back to the future--brings back Catalog

[KoKo]

What’s old is new again at JCPenney (JCP).

The retailer that’s turning 113 this year is reviving its catalog after a five-year hiatus.

The catalog-- which first appeared in 1963-- was ended in 2010 as JCPenney decided to focus instead on Internet sales. Now the retailer is finding that print ads actually drive more traffic and purchases on its website.

Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli says this shows that not everything in retail has to be “new and improved.”

“It says a lot about catalogs and why they endure,” he notes. “It’s a business that sort of still has a purpose to service the new way of buying.”

Santoli points out that catalogs fill an important role for retailers trying to reach a key demographic.

“Better, more active customers really like to get a fuller picture of the full range of products,” he says. “And as great as most companies-- including JCPenney-- are for facilitating online sales, I don’t think you necessarily get that full effect of looking at the full breadth of products. Somehow it’s easier to browse a catalog.”

Santoli says certain niche publications are already taking advantage of that fact.

If you think about fashion magazines and home magazines, the ads are integral to those magazines,” he notes. “And they’re going to be the last things that are still printed on paper, and I think there’s a reason for that-- you kind of get in front of people’s eyes every day or almost every day in the mail.”

Santoli thinks the catalog trend will continue.

The new JCPenney catalog is smaller than the old version (now just 120 pages) and will be shipped in March. It comes as JCPenney continues to make strides to recover from the disastrous tenure of ousted CEO Ron Johnson, the former Apple (AAPL) executive who failed in his efforts to overhaul the company. JCPenney got a boost over the holiday season when it reported a solid 3.7% increase in same-store sales.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jcpenney-goes-back-to-the-future-152514982.html

[msongs]

1. sears catlogs were awesome. as kids we cut them up and made collages & other art stuff. and

momNdad bought things for us lol

[IDemo]

4. My Grandmother said they were useful for other things as well..

[KoKo]

7. Yes....

very helpful in the event of a shortage of necessaries and in rural areas where outhouses were still common.

[KT2000]

2. good idea!

Our Penney's always has a line at the catalog desk (small catalogs) picking up orders. Only other option is Walmart.

[MineralMan]

3. A catalog is not going to save J.C. Penney.

It's going to die either way. On the other hand, the IKEA catalog is kept around and consulted before going to the store. If you're smart, you never even go into the display area at all. Instead, you head directly for the warehouse area, pick the item up, load it on a cart, and check out.

The major catalog stores began in a time when there were no big department stores, except in major cities. Catalogs brought shopping to every corner of the United States, and were a lifeline in rural areas. Those days are gone for good. Today, there's a Walmart wherever you live, within easy driving distance.

I collect Sears catalogs, and have at least one from every decade from the 1890s to the 1970s. I've been through them all many times, since they tell the story of the country. The biggest ones were the earliest ones. They sold everything anyone might ever need, from groceries to the instruments to start your own band.

Two interesting catalogs from my collection are the 1937 one, which was printed on very poor quality paper due to the bad economy and is now falling apart, and the spring/summer 1945 one, which still had many items marked NOT AVAILABLE and whole sections of the catalog not included. It really tells the story of WWII as it drew to an end, with all of the hardships of wartime rationing, etc.

So far, I have not been able to find a copy from the WWI period at all. They exist, and I'm still looking, but that one will be maybe the most interesting one of all to me. I have one from 1908, and am looking for one from 1918. The differences will be remarkable.

[LanternWaste]

5. I don't think the premise offered was 'a catalog and only a catalog will save JC Penny..."

"A catalog is not going to save J.C. Penney...."

I don't think the premise offered was 'a catalog and only a catalog will save JC Penny..."

[MineralMan]

6. Of course not, nor did I suggest that.

You've added to what I said, and put words in my mouth. My point is that nothing can save J.C. Penney. As a retail vendor, its doom is certain. Its entire business model is no longer viable. Issuing a catalog again will not help.