Would You Rather Accept A Job From Jcpenny Or Macys

What's the difference between Kohls, JC Penney, Target, Macy's and Nordstrom?

Each of these companies serve a very different customer base. For arguments sake, I'll do direct comparisons.The easiest compare would be Macy's vs Nordstrom. Macy's focuses on value and market saturation. “One-Day" sales and a low distance to your nearest Macy's is what drives customer in. Macy's product buys are larger and utilizes a considerable amount of sales floor space (more product, smaller walkways.) Nordstrom on the other hand focuses on Service. Much of the product you can find in Nordstrom can usually be found at a the Lord & Taylor or Macy's on the other side of the mall. Items found in Nordstrom are tailor fit to accommodate that in-season region customer. Since Nordstrom stores are more evenly spread in the areas they serve, the sales per square foot is much higher than other retailers.In my mind, the next comparison would be JcPenney vs Khols. JcPenney is unfortunately in a race to the end. With the semi recent rise of other discounters like Burlington CF and Khols, JCP has had a hard time reclaiming it's former glory. Khols, like other value stores, have nearly the same concepts and marketing strategies. Checkout in the front with an endless sea of clothes continuing all the to the back.Target is more so fighting against retailers like Costco, BJ's, Walmart and (more importantly) Amazon. Target, mostly focuses it's energy on being more service oriented and socially relevant. The buy for each store is very tailored to the community it serves. Like Nordstrom, Target customers could easily go to their nearest Walmart to find products at a lower price, but they stick around for a more “shoppable” environment, which include good products, store cleanliness, and quick checkout. Walmart is notorious for rather long checkout lines and attempted to combat the image with their 2016 holiday ad campagain, where they introduced “line leaders" to help customers find shorter lines and checkout quicker.

What is the future of retail stores like Kohl’s, Macy’s, JCPenny? Who is better equipped to survive for another 10 years?

Macy’s has been around since the 1860s and is doing relatively well these days. They are trying new things and have a strong online presence. They are the only truly national general merchandise chain that is not a discount chain; they are in almost every major metro area. They also own some very valuable real estate, like Macy’s and Bloomingdake’s in Manhattan. I believe they will be around far longer than 10 years. More like 30–50 under good leadership.The other two are tougher to predict, and compete head-to-head with each other. Both Kohl’s and JC Penney have relatively new fleets of stores and are trying new things.Kohl’s is a much younger company than Macy’s or JC Penney, and was really booming a few years ago, but has cooled.JC Penney has a proud history, but was almost destroyed a few years ago by former Target executive and Apple Store chief Ron Johnson. They barely survived, and continue to struggle. Sales are not growing, they have a lot of debt, and their stock is down to $1. They have a new CEO, Jill Soltau, and I personally am rooting for the company and think they have a chance. They are in better shape than the two other giant general merchandise retailers of 40 years ago, Sears and Kmart, but that is not saying much. They will really have to work hard in order to survive and prosper.Kohl’s is therefore in a stronger position than JC Penney.Meanwhile, Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshall’s are doing great, and have taken a great deal of apparel market share away from all three of these companies, which make most of their money on apparel and accessories.

Why is there more focus on the loss of US coal industry jobs rather than retail jobs?

Bill McDonald is almost certainly on to something in pointing out that coal mining is more geographically concentrated than retail. Retail is a far larger share of the economy, but it exists everywhere. There aren't any towns that are left economically ruined because Macy’s and J.C. Penney have fallen on hard times and are closing stores. Coal mines exist in places that don't have a lot of other employers.There's another factor at play though. Coal jobs have traditionally been union jobs. That means that despite the danger and harsh working conditioms, those jobs offered decent pay, benefits, and a measure of job security. Many people expected to spend their entire working life in those jobs.Retail jobs are non-unionized, and they tend to suck: low pay, no job security, monotonous work, few benefits. That’s why nobody mourns these jobs when they disappear. Yeah, maybe they paid the bills (barely, and often only by holding down more than one job) but they weren't jobs people wanted to stay in all that badly. Who thinks of themselves as a career retail clerk? How many kids say “I want to be a cashier at Walmart when I grow up”?One of my favorite podcasts, The Weeds, highlighted this in an episode a month or two ago. They pointed out that when Americans wax nostalgic about manufacturing jobs, it's not because working in a factory is inherently better than working a service job. What we’re nostalgic for, without realizing it, is unions.Neeither manufacturing jobs nor coal mining jobs are coming back. In both cases, the main reason is mechanization. The manufacturing sector hasn't declined at all, and while the coal mining industry really is declining, its output hasn't fallen that far below the record highs of a couple decades ago. But these industries can now produce the same output using far less labor.So, if we're concerned that there aren't enough good jobs around, the answer is not to engage in heroic efforts to keep dying industries on life support, or to force industries that are becoming more efficient to employ labor they don't need. The answer is to take the service jobs that do exist, that are clearly in demand, and make them into good jobs.

Dollar General is opening more stores, while other places like Kohls and Macy’s are closing, why do you think this is?

Dollar General has an aggressive business plan, centered around going to where the people are, not making people come to them.DG’s customer base mainly consists of lower income individuals and families, with most of our customers being eldery people or young families in rural areas.They recognize that people would rather go to a smaller store, with less variety, but strong focus on fundamental items, that is 5 minutes away, rather than 30 minutes away to Wal-Mart, with a large variety, but often more expensive and causing more hassle.Large department stores are essentially done. You can get the vast majority of their items online, often cheaper and without hassle. Plus, for those who live in rural areas, going to the nearest large town to shop is done out of necessity, not desire.So, DG goes to the people, offers convenience and a solid selection of necessities at affordable prices, while striving to maintain a simple, easy to shop store and friendly staff.

Why is JCPenney doing so badly compared to every other retailer?

Source: J.C. Penney's Problem: Right Stores Wrong FocusJ.C. Penney's Problem: Right Stores Wrong FocusFor years, American retailers J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) and Macy’s had something in common: they were serving the middle class working American consumer with quality merchandise at reasonable prices. Macy’s catered more to the high-end of this market, while J.C. Penney catered more to the lower end.Close to three years ago, J.C. Penney changed strategy, and tried to move to the high-end of the market. They refurbished stores, and did away with coupon discounts.As we wrote in previous pieces, the old coupon policy had been working well, because it created Word-of—Mouth (WOM) and buzz among consumers for promoted merchandise.Nonetheless, J.C Penney did away with this strategy after Ron Johnson assumed the helm of the company, modeling the company’s stores after those of Apple AAPL -0.07%. At the same time, J.C. Penney changed its product line to cater to upper scale consumers rather than the middle class consumer.Taken together, these strategic moves created a big problem for J. C. Penney, in our opinion: right stores, wrong market focus.Macy’s, on the other hand, stayed with the old strategy that was working — focusing on merchandise that catered to its core customers, while intensifying coupon sale campaigns.The company further improved its operational effectiveness in two ways: First, through OneMacy’s, which centralized core functions from buying to marketing and merchandising; and support functions like human resources.And second through MyMacy’s, which replaced traditional regional units, improving communications between New York and the newly created district units.The rest is history. Customers didn’t buy J. C. Penney’s new business model, fleeing for Macy’s and other competitors.  J.C. Penney’s sales, operating margins, and stock headed south. Meanwhile, Macy’s margins, revenues and stock moved in the other direction.J.C. Penney’s and Macy’s Financials, 2/25/2014CompanyOperating MarginsQtrly Revenue Growth (yoy)Earnings Growth (yoy)Total DebtTotal CashOperating Cash FlowJ.C. Penney-15.52%-5.10–5.61B1.23B-1.55BMacy’s9.713.3022.107.21.172.19Source: Page on finance.comJ.C. Penney’s and Macy’s Financials, 6/28/2013Now Ron Johnson is gone — and the old fashioned pricing strategy returned. J.C. Penney has turned the corner, but the hype has yet to return, as evidenced by a mediocre Q4 report.Obviously, J.C. Penney has yet to get its business model right.