JCPenney's Latest, Greatest Hope: A New VP of Product Development
Maybe it's not on the top of your retail innovators list, but there's no denying that JCPenney's (JCP) had plenty of opportunities to break new ground lately. The latest, a shift in the C-suite, is yet one more shot to shake things up. JCP's named Ken Mangone executive vice president of product development and sourcing.
A 34-year vet of the Texas-based chain, Mangone is in a hot seat -- half of JCP's annual volume (think about $9 million) comes from its private and exclusive brands -â€" two of which, St. John's Bay and Liz Claiborne, led a 2.3 percent uptick in holiday sales for 2010.
WWD reports that Mangone will oversee the team which handles all the trend analysis, product design and development, sourcing, manufacturing and quality control. But it's clear that Mangone has to lead this team in a charge for change.
Made in America... er, never mind
Take the sourcing, for instance. JCP got some bad press at the launch of its American Living product line, in collaboration with Ralph Lauren. It wasn't too long before the watchdog blogosphere discovered that those t-shirts and other goods emblazoned with the flag and eagle logo weren't actually made in the good ole U.S. of A.
The timing couldn't be better to take a second look at sourcing and manufacturing options here in the States. U.S. apparel manufacturing showed strong growth last year, reaching levels not seen in 13 years and adding much-needed jobs to our economy.
A "Made in the USA" approach might offer JCPenney shorter lead times (the current concept-to-rack cycle can be as long as 30 weeks) as well as combat the rising cost of Asian outsourcing, not to mention act as an antidote to further bad press.
JCPenney could use a little style support in the trend department. Several recent initiatives need a boost, namely the retailer's fully-integrated Facebook store which doesn't exactly show off JCP's chicest assets (think Mango) to full advantage.
Let a thousand e-commerce sites bloom
It will be interesting to see how Mangone and his minions will work with JCP's new, independent think tank Growth Brands Division. CEO Myron Ullman views the effort as a way to build on Penney's sourcing, branding and logistics expertise, but will Mangone be open to implementing a much-needed style infusion if that's what the Growth team brings to the table?
Meanwhile, JCP continues to roll out initiatives in its niche approach to sales. Two new e-commerce sites -- Clad, a young men's brand, and Gifting Grace for frequent gift givers -- will launch later this year. Each will get some high-profile marketing juice thanks to a partnership with Hearst Magazines.
With the potential audience of Esquire looking at Clad and Good Housekeeping for Gifting Grace, this is no time to sit back and wait to see what happens. Mangone and company have to be ready to roll out new styles in double quick time. Losing customers is only matter of one click.
Image via JCPenney
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