JC Penny Company Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Introduction

A market research method is an essential tool for conducting research in the market. There are various reasons for conducting research in the market such as gathering information about the competitor, customers and measuring theoutcomeof the company changes. There are basically two types of methods for conducting research which isPrimary and Secondary research.

Marketing Research Methods

The company had brought changes to its pricing strategy by changing its high-low pricing to fair and square pricing. For understanding the impact of the pricing change and the reaction of its customers, the company conducted various marketing research methods for analyzing the outcome. The following are the market research methods.

• Secondary Data – Internal sources, J.C. Penney Stock Performance, quantitative data, Exhibit # 1
• Secondary Data – External Source, The decline of department store channels, quantitative data Exhibit # 2
• Secondary Data– Internal source,J.C financial and Sales, quantitative research, Exhibit 3
• Secondary data – External source, Comparative Performance relative to primary competitors, quantitative research, Exhibit # 4
• Secondary Data – External source, E-commerce 2011 sales and growth, quantitative data, Exhibit #5
• Primary Data – Survey on consumer response on advertisement, qualitative research, Exhibit #11
• Primary Data – Online survey on consumer response, quantitative research, Exhibit # 12
• Secondary Data- Internal Sources, Q2 for average customer spending, quantitative research, Exhibit # 14

J.C. Penney Stock Performance

J.C. Penney took the stock performance data of its company through the secondary, internal source for understanding how the change of prices impacted on the stocks and investments (Exhibit # 1). It was shown that the stock performance had been on a significant decline since its pricing changing strategy from the last year in which many of the shareholders stopped buying J.C Penney Shares(Wayman, 2015).

The Decline on the department stores channels

Another secondary research had been conducted through the external sources in determining the total retail stores which had been impacted by the departmental stores (Exhibit # 2). The departmental stores had been on a decline since the year 2000. The main reason is that many of the customers had switched to online buying for their ease instead of visiting on departmental stores. Many of the departmental stores are adopting strategies such as discounts and innovative ideas for attracting customers.

J.C. Penney Financial and Sales

Another secondary data had been taken from the internal sources which are the J.CPenney Financial and sales (Exhibit # 3). The purpose of this research was to identify as where does the company stands and how did the pricing strategy impacted on its financial performance. The information was intended to provide the current position of the company comparing it with the last 5 years. Understanding the financials and sales would help the company in deciding what problems needs to be tackled and the strategies it must take to improve its performance.

Comparing performance with its primary competitors

Another of the secondary data had been taken from the external sources for comparing the J.C Penney’sperformance with the primary competitors such Wal-Mart, Target Corp and others (Exhibit # 4). The purpose of this research was to see where the company stands against its competitors. The company compares its revenues and net income with its competitors and it was found out that most of the competitors were outperforming J.C. Penney in terms of net profit........................

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