JCPenney Sells Out with Joel Kim Booster and Scott Seiss | 39

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When JCPenney, the 100-year-old department store, decided to rebrand in 2011, they sought the best in the biz to give them a makeover. Enter Ron Johnson, the affable retail genius behind the Apple Store. Hailed as a techy visionary, Johnson was supposed to reinvent the brand. Instead, he alienated customers with high prices and a baffling shopping experience. Martha Stewart and a tea kettle that somehow actually looked like Hitler all contributed to this failed experiment that cost the once beloved company billions.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free.
0:05.3	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:14.8	The J.C. Penny headquarters in Plano, Texas isn't the most exciting place.
0:24.8	As of February 6th, 2012, the department store, known mostly for coupons and affordable linens,
0:32.0	has been in business for over 100 years.
0:36.3	But today, something is different. Today, there is a cube? Between two cafeterias,
0:44.9	a 10-foot-by-10-foot acrylic cube has materialized, with a large opening. It looks like some
0:51.8	kind of chic dumpster. Curious J.C. Penny employees circle around it
0:57.6	and align forms of co-workers clutching heaps of office paraphernalia. Mugs, stationary, pens,
1:05.4	tote bags, all stamped with the J.C. Penny logo are brought to the edge of the cube. The company's new CEO,
1:14.4	Ron Johnson, has ordered them to cast their branded swag into this loose-sight abyss. He
1:21.2	imagines a 21st century company. To create the future, he must first destroy the past, starting with all those damn mugs.
1:31.3	Death to JCPenny, long live JCP, a new department store for a new generation,
1:38.4	with high-tech checkout systems, curated collections, a luxurious shopping experience. In just a little over a year, Johnson's
1:48.1	transformation of the company will implode, costing JCP billions in revenue, tanking their
1:55.3	stock price and making them a laughing stock thanks to a teapot that looks suspiciously like Hitler.
2:01.6	But right now, Ron Johnson believes in his vision and he's going to see it through,
2:07.6	even if it takes the company down with him.
2:11.6	Well, don't just stand there. Throw something in the cube.
2:19.3	Look, we know Ron Johnson, the high flyer from Apple, came over.
2:22.3	Big plans to turn around J.C. Penny.
2:25.3	Ron Johnson had joined J.C. Penny in June of 2012.
	...

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