J C Penney will soon lay over 900 employees after the new CEO, Ron Johnson, tries to direct the retailer into a more successful direction. The headquarters staff will be reduced by 600 and another 300 jobs will be cut at the call center in Pittsburgh this July. As a part of the make over, the retailer switched to a three-tier price scheme back in February and launched a new ad campaign with Ellen DeGeneres, hoping the change would improve sales and the over all reputation of the company.
J.C. Penney has a plan to cut $900 million from annual expenses by 2013. Sales have slipped from $19.8 billion in 2008 to $17.2 billion last year while trying to keep up with top competitors like Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Target. The 110 year old business has witnessed a huge fall in stock since the changes in the company started in February. Now that the jobs have been cut and a restructuring of the business is occurring, one can only hope that the plan to run the company like a nimble start-up will help it bounce back from the hardships.
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