Tag: J. C. Penney

Value Added

JC Penney “sales managers” are told to pack up, and get back in line to apply for their direct reports’ jobs.

Yahoo people back to the office.

And Best Buy mobile Geek Squad are told to park out back and get in the office as well.

Big-box retailers are suffering and pinching pennies.

The flip side of this tory is the rise of Amazon and other online retailers.

So consumers are still buying. Just not from traditional stores as much (auto parts are also sold online).

Maybe Pet.com can try again 12 years after the crash.

As long as you seek to “pour your heart into it” (It here refers to the Starbucks coffee cup), people can sense it.

The VAS effect.

Human empathy, listening and connecting.

Win-win value proposition.

Yes, I know how you feel. There has been one thing after another: the threat of annihilation, of elimination and of inflation.

We thank you for your patronage, knowing you have other choices.

Just to illustrate the power of a positive experience.

When I first saw Woodstock footage in my cousin’s theatre, I never forgot Ten Years After.

The solo guitarist has just died at the age of 68. But sure enough, he had made lasting impressions beyond ten years after  I saw the film.

Not only satisfied customers remember the VAS effect, they go about telling others (customer turned advocate). Hence, customer service closes the loop (Marketing-Sales-Service–Word-of-mouth marketing).

Remember to go beyond the sales, beyond deliverable, to complete customer’s buying experience. Good impressions last for years after.

On Seeing

With YouTube, Skype Video and 4-G network, we will be watching a lot of video.

Some content was finally “remastered” to be added on to the collective archive in the cloud.

Yet, we neglect to clean our lenses and learn to see as if for the first time.

The sense of wonder, curiosity, marvel, or just discover what’s been there all along.

(The National Archivist picked Star Wars among others for future

generations).

I had my glass redone last week. After trying the new lenses on, it got worse. Turned out that the store had the wrong measurement for the order.

What you see depends on where you stand.

A or B? Is this better or worse?

Yesterday, on Bloomberg, Pimm Fox had a great interview with Howard Davidowitz, who pointed out that with more online shopping, we are stuck with so much excess in commercial retail space.

I live close to the near-abandoned Palm Beach Mall. All stores had moved out, except for JC Penney. Even when it’s not “last chance bargain” store, it feels like it.

We view others and being viewed within a context. I have my daughter’s high school graduation picture on my desk. I might be looking at her picture, but actually, she has looked at me, watching Dad struggle, put on his best face, war face if need be.

We also see differently when we are intoxicated, or with a pocket full of money.

It’s sad to hear that attempts at micro lending in India have failed due to loan sharks.

Noble idea but not without some hiccups.

With a new decade comes new configuration, if only we can “see” (IaaS for instance).

See what’s left standing. See what’s coming up from behind.

See who are still with us when the dust is settled.

And most importantly, seeing our real selves: that which has actually emerged due to so much contextual stimuli (that draw out our characters, and sharpen them in the process.)

The old Western movies extolled the Alpha Male (Last Man Standing).

Somehow, our Capitalist society got a page from that same script. The result is, Chase  branch at every corner, and JC Penney the only left in the block.

I know now what’s tomorrow’s blog should be about: on becoming.

New terms such as “coffice” (in Korea, you pay for the coffee like at Starbucks and sit down to commandeer a table from 9-5), TARP, CDO etc…New Year Celebration, on ABC, I heard Ke$ha (We are who we are) say “let’s make twenty eleven a bitch”.

Underneath it all, we should be glad that next-gen are holding it quite well.

If twenty eleven turns out as expected, then we are going to be OK.

That’s how I “see” it. So much wasted retail space, so much wasted US talent.

 

Monk in Wal-Mart

God, guns and country.

Then, a monk, not outside of Wal-Mart soliciting for donation, but inside, at the cashier line, waiting to pay.

It’s a common sight today.

But by turning the clock back a few decades, you wouldn’t expect both (Monk and Wal-Mart) to coexist.

At least, it’s not quite as contrast a sight as a Monk in Rodeo Drive  or Worth Avenue.

With the growing  Asian American population , there is an increasing need for “homegrown” spiritual nourishment.

Back then, young Americans would have to be so “rad” before “turning East” (that is, if they did not go North to evade the draft) That tide had been stamped out or overshadowed by the theocratic Moral Majority until the 90’s when the South Asian and Asian American population

(second generation) started to gain traction, and their parents could afford to upscale their kids to Ivy-league schools.

Studies show bi-lingual bi-cultural kids excel in school. Where else can they go to hone their first-turned-second language besides the Mosque, Pagoda and Churches.

The monks started to come (no more burning monk – an event which I eye-witnessed, and which Madam Nhu said if they wished, they could just “barbecue” themselves, since they had done it to themselves).

I have high respect for people who before green is cool, already subscribed to the tenet that we brought nothing to this Earth, thus try not to harm it. And that the path to Enlightenment is NOT to want things. With this backdrop in mind, it is quite a cognitive-dissonance to see a monk in Wal-Mart .Monks are taught to consume only if/when necessary, while Wal-Mart is a hotbed of consumerism in bulk. “Save more, live better”.

Recent numbers are showing that chains like TJ Maxx are doing well, unlike Macy and JC Penney.

Near where I live, in West Palm Beach, the JC Penney mall has turned ghost mall during the downturn of the economy.

Meanwhile, residents in the area feel like they are singled out to live in a ghost town . Incidentally there is a Hummer dealership nearby, which makes it worse if it ends up being own by the Chinese. All we need is a Haier,

a Hummer and a Huawei store to make this a nouveaux Chinatown, complete with spiritual tending by a Buddhist temple nearby. The Mormons and the Monks can stake out their turfs in this new world order, a sort of  World Cup for religious ideas.

What we need is public education on the environment, ethics, and economics. We have experienced enough devastation to appreciate their importance. And when the Earth cries out for attention like Katrina, Fukushima or Haiyan; when greed got the better of everyone (the Ponzification of America) we then start embracing Wal-Mart over Wall Street. The monk was probably too busy tending to his expanding flock to notice the difference. We prefer to roll back the Yuppies decade, trading up at Starbucks’ and while at it, throwing in a Bob Dylan CD (with T Shirt box set). That in itself is an irony (icon of protest now peddles his merchandise co-opting with yuppies, not hippies). When you see Starbucks come back, you know the economy has recovered.  For now, I will stick to instant coffee, while wholesale supplies last, at Wal-Mart. I am right behind the monk, in Wal-Mart.