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Speaker 1: All right, let's turn back to retail now in the

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Speaker 1: State of the consumer, let's talk about JC Penny. Of course,

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Speaker 1: the retailer is unveiling a new pricing strategy that aims

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Speaker 1: to ensure that no budget is too small. Joining us

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Speaker 1: now with more on the state of the US consumer

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Speaker 1: is jcpenny CEO, Mark Rosenmark. It's great to have you

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Speaker 1: back with us, and let's talk about that. We were

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Speaker 1: just having a conversation with Caterina Seminetti, of course, about

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Speaker 1: who needs rate cuts in this economy, and the answer increasingly,

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Speaker 1: of course, is that middle class consumer. It's that lower

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Speaker 1: tier consumer. And with that in mind, what do your

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Speaker 1: promotionals on your sales look like heading into the holiday season.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's right, I mean, I think as you look

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Speaker 2: at the economy right now, certainly the consumer is pressed

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Speaker 2: a bit right now.

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Speaker 3: And we do.

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Speaker 2: Say that our customer, which is really America's diverse working families,

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Speaker 2: it's that middle class consumer. It's that working family. It's

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Speaker 2: the teachers that teach our kids, it's the medical workers

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Speaker 2: that take care of us and our family, and the

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Speaker 2: construction workers that build our home, and they are stretched

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Speaker 2: right now. But we're actually really encouraged with what we've

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Speaker 2: seen really since back to school, so we saw a

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Speaker 2: step change improvement in traffic and sales and back to school.

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Speaker 2: And then I know you were just rolling the tape

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Speaker 2: from our really big deals which air every Thursday night

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Speaker 2: on Thursday Night Football, and we've been really encouraged with

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Speaker 2: what we're seeing with that too. In fact, we've now

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Speaker 2: seen where we expect that during the holiday we're going

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Speaker 2: to have from that Thursday Night Football over two million

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Speaker 2: new customers who are in our file by that time.

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Speaker 2: And so the customer is looking for value, but they're

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Speaker 2: also looking for joy, and they're going to celebrate and

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Speaker 2: they're going to have holiday and we're confident.

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Speaker 1: About that right. And of course October eighteenth ession Ali

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Speaker 1: was pointing out we're already in a Christmas decorating season here.

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Speaker 1: But I am curious. I mean, when you think about

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Speaker 1: JC Penny, of course, you've been around for a long

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Speaker 1: long time. You're an iconic brand that has fallen on

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Speaker 1: some hard times. How do you balance of course promotions,

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Speaker 1: putting through discounts while still trying to build brand relevancy

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Speaker 1: and brand I have to imagine that's a difficult needle.

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Speaker 1: To thread right.

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Speaker 2: So, as you mentioned, right, jac Penny has been around

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Speaker 2: for over one hundred and twenty years, and throughout that

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Speaker 2: time we've always stood for value to the consumer, and

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Speaker 2: so values are really important part of our proposition. But

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Speaker 2: value is about more than just promotion and price. Value

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Speaker 2: is about being able to find the fashion statements that

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Speaker 2: you want. So for holiday, we're introducing I think one

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Speaker 2: of my favorite items is a bear pob blanket. Right,

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Speaker 2: really comfy, really great item. It's going to be in

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Speaker 2: our stores. It's at a great price and you can

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Speaker 2: find that for holiday. I think you know, when we

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Speaker 2: talk about value, also, it's not just meaning low price.

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Speaker 2: So one of the biggest items for women this holiday

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Speaker 2: we're expecting to be diamonds, and we have a great

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Speaker 2: jewelry department that sells those diamonds at a great price

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Speaker 2: and a great value for what you're getting. But the

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Speaker 2: consumers interested in buying those items. So for us, really

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Speaker 2: the brand value proposition is about accessible fashion. It's about

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Speaker 2: finding great eight value, which is quality and brands at

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Speaker 2: a really outstanding price, and it's about a great shopping

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Speaker 2: experience and then that combination that's.

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Speaker 4: Going to win. It's interesting you're clearly making a lot

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Speaker 4: of inventory choices at this moment based on changing consumer preferences.

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Speaker 4: I'm wondering, Mark in the other direction, are there things

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Speaker 4: that you seem to be buying a lot less of

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Speaker 4: these days, given where consumer preferences are headed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think as we as we look at holiday,

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Speaker 2: we're really focused on what we're buying and making sure

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Speaker 2: that we have the right inventory and a lot of

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Speaker 2: our aur We announced about a year ago a billion

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Speaker 2: dollar self funded reinvestment in the business. A big part

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Speaker 2: of that was in inventory tools and making sure that

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Speaker 2: we're getting the right items in the right place for

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Speaker 2: the customer. So we're certainly focused on some of the

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Speaker 2: big items that we know we're going to have. Our

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Speaker 2: Saint John's Bay cable knit sweater is always always a

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Speaker 2: best seller, but we are also focused on what are

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Speaker 2: some of the items that are not selling as well,

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Speaker 2: and how do we make sure we can invest that

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Speaker 2: inventory in the things that are going to drive sales growth.

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Speaker 3: What is the main cohort you're going after. I mean,

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Speaker 3: it's been said middle class. Certainly that was the case

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Speaker 3: when I was a kid in Central Ohio, but that

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Speaker 3: was a long time ago. Who is your customer and

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Speaker 3: how is that customer doing right now?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, our customer, we say, our customer is really the

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Speaker 2: core of America. It is America's diverse working families. So,

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Speaker 2: as I said earlier, it really is the teachers that

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Speaker 2: are teaching our kids, it's construction workers that are building

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Speaker 2: our homes and offices, it's the medical workers taking care

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Speaker 2: of us and our families. And it is that core

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Speaker 2: of America household that we're serving with all the things

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Speaker 2: that they can do. So whether that's towels for their home,

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Speaker 2: whether that's sheets, whether that is clothing, or whether that's

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Speaker 2: holiday gifts. And we're really excited this year we've expanded

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Speaker 2: our holiday gifts selection. But it's everything to serve the

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Speaker 2: needs of that family.

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Speaker 3: What about your workers?

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Speaker 2: Who is working for you?

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Speaker 3: And how difficult or easy is it for you to

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Speaker 3: find employees to fully staff a store, Because frankly, for me,

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Speaker 3: at least, the retail experience, not jcpenny, you know, but

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Speaker 3: most stores has been really disappointing the last few years.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't seem like there are enough people working there.

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Speaker 3: They don't seem to be really happy with their job,

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Speaker 3: they're not super helpful, to customers, So how are you

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Speaker 3: dealing with that?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 2: So, I think for us, one of the interesting things

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Speaker 2: is our employees, and when we centered ourselves around our

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Speaker 2: purpose of serving America's diverse working families, that's really our employee. Also,

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Speaker 2: our employee mirrors our customer. And so we have operated

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Speaker 2: for over one hundred and twenty years on the golden rule,

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Speaker 2: which is letting others have the experience and treating others

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Speaker 2: the way that we want to be treated, and that's

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Speaker 2: the guideline of our customer service and stores. We've been

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Speaker 2: encouraged with staffing for this holiday and really over the

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Speaker 2: last probably twelve plus months as we look at the

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Speaker 2: labor market that both in our stores and our distribution

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Speaker 2: centers we've been able to hire. We also have a

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Speaker 2: lot of long tenured associates in our stores, and we're

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Speaker 2: really focused on net promoter scoring. We've seen a big

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Speaker 2: increase in net promoter score as we've remodeled our stores

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Speaker 2: and as we've really focused on the service initiative within stores.

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Speaker 1: And I'm taking a look at some recent headlines. In September,

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Speaker 1: the news came out that you planned to hire more

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Speaker 1: than ten thousand seasonal workers for this upcoming holiday season.

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Speaker 1: How does that compare to years past, Mark.

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Speaker 2: It's really a similar trend to years past, so not

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Speaker 2: a big difference this year. I think we're expecting a

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Speaker 2: strong holiday season, and we're staffing up for that holiday season,

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Speaker 2: and we're hiring accordingly.

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Speaker 1: All Right, Mark, really appreciate the update. Have a great

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Speaker 1: weekend when you get there. That is JC Penny CEO

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Speaker 1: Mark Rosen