For the November/December holiday season, J.C. Penney Co. announced a comparable sales decline of 0.8%.
“The first three weeks of November proved to be challenging in stores, consistent with the trends in the broader retail industry,” said Marvin Ellison, J.C. Penney chairman and CEO. “However, the business improved and overall comp sales for the six-week period from Thanksgiving week through the end of December were positive.”
Among the stronger selling product categories in the holiday season were, Ellison said, “appliances, outerwear, boots, toys, Sephora and fine jewelry. However, weakness in women’s apparel continued to impact our performance. We are also encouraged by a very strong performance in our e-commerce business, evidenced by double-digit growth. This validates the strength of our omnichannel strategy as efforts to improve site functionality, expand fulfillment capabilities, offer flexible shipping options and introduce a broad assortment of new product categories were instrumental to this digital sales growth.”
