The new JCPenney sounds so appealing on paper. So far, though, the reaction among consumers to the newly made-over JCPenney is that there's not much need to show up at the stores at all.
In an annual study tracking customer satisfaction ratings with the top 100 online retailers, perhaps the biggest takeaway is that Amazon is the world’s biggest e-retailer for a reason: It just plain makes customers happier than the competition.
Two-thirds of our economy is in the service sector. So why is service so bad?
Real Simple asked bargain hunters — including a teacher and financial authors and bloggers — for the easiest ways to save money every week. And some of these bargains may surprise you.
Walmart became the world’s largest retailer by attracting consumers who were most interested in low prices, not a highfalutin, top-notch shopping experience. So it’s unsurprising that Walmart has received poor ratings in studies covering customer service and broad range of shopping categories. But at least Walmart’s got the cheapest prices and packs in the most [...]
At some level, all shoppers know that a game is being played in every aisle of every store. Original prices, weekly promotions, clearance racks, coupons, Black Friday, blue-light specials, flash sales, oddly specific prices ending in .99 or .97 — these are just a few of the strategies employed to entice shoppers into making a [...]
Major retailers including J. Crew, Victoria’s Secret and Radio Shack not only didn’t respond to questions within two days, they actually deleted them, a new survey says.
Got an in-box clogged with ads from retailers? You’re not alone. In recent months, many stores have been sending customers promotional e-mails at a pace of more than one per day. Spam-happy retailers such as Neiman Marcus deluged subscribers with over 500 e-mails in 2011. But amid studies showing that consumers are growing less likely [...]
Plenty of drivers are worked up about the cost of gasoline. In a recent survey, 85% of Americans said that the government should take “immediate actions” to rein in fuel prices. But while there’s no denying people are agitated and eager to find someone to blame for prices at the pump rising 18% since December, [...]
Faux luxury goods have been a scourge of high-end manufacturers for years. Consumers who want the look but not the price tag of designer names like Gucci or Louis Vuitton would fork over a fraction of the price and get an illegally made approximation of the real thing. But in this economy, the hottest names [...]
Less than 1% of J.C. Penney’s revenues come from items bought at full price. By contrast, nearly three-quarters of merchandise sold by the department store chain is discounted by at least 50% off. What this tells shoppers is that J.C. Penney’s original prices are pretty much meaningless. They’re floated out there to see if any [...]
