jcp

JCPenney is going all out to win over web and other customers. The retailer launched a feature on its website called “Know Before You Go”, where you could get directions to the store, check availability of an items and so on. According to research, it was shown that more than 90% of JCP.com shoppers also shopped at Penney stores and the majority of them researched their purchase online before heading to the stores.

According to Mike Boylson, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Avenue A | Razorfish, “It’s a lot more than an e-commerce site and a place to transact, it will literally become the new face of the brand.” The company has been integrating its 1100 stores, its website JCP.com and its catalog, and is using all kinds of new marketing initiatives to reach its customers, including mobile marketing. The company combined its annual budget for online marketing which was $300 million to its annual budget for online marketing which was $1.1 billion, so that funds can be allocated correctly.

…JCP.com is the fastest-growing channel for the company and attracts the youngest and most affluent consumers. While Penney advertises extensively through newspapers and direct mail, he said consumers between the age of 18 and 35 “simply aren’t consuming that media. When you look at the cost of paper, print and postage versus the digital space, it becomes an economic necessity to transform advertising into digital media.”

Digital marketing includes reaching customers via their mobile phones, another area where Penney is investing more heavily, Boylson said. He pointed out that while only 13% of U.S. consumers now carry mobile phones with Internet access, by 2011 that is expected to increase to 90% of consumers. “It’s becoming a mobile world,” Boylson said. “This is the wave of the future.”