JCPenney Dominates Over Kohl’s in Online Shopping
Being a multi-billion dollar retailer comes with its perks. JCPenney’s dominance over catalog merchandising has now extended into the cyber world at www.jcpenney.com. This website is multi-functional and easy to navigate, but how would JCPenney’s new e-commerce site stack up against its toughest competitor, Kohl’s, on the web? The answer may surprise you. This is an intriguing look at how varied retail comparisons can be. While JCPenney is struggling with sales on the retail floor, Kohl’s continues to exceed expectations in their stores. Online though, it is a completely different story.
Kohl’s has a fledgling site located at www.kohls.com. The homepage for this site looks very modern and eye-catching with its large feature window and cute icons. Navigating into the site; however, a customer may notice that there are no opportunities to make online purchases or to view product. JCPenney’s homepage is dedicated to listing all departments and displaying several links to some of our strategic alliances. For instance, JCPenney’s website is loaded with links to companies like Eckerd.com and Fresh Flowers.com. There are also several direct links to products like Sony and Dockers. Kohl’s homepage is simple and bare unlike JCPenney’s cluttered doorstep; however, JCPenney lists all links on the homepage, which makes online shopping easier overall.
The major difference between these two sites is the shop-ability of each. Kohl’s has yet to expand their website to an e-commerce base. It was dramatically easier for JCPenney to expand online because of their established warehousing ability for the catalog consumer. JCPenney has the ability to receive an online order and ship the merchandise within 48 hours, a feat unsurpassed by any online retailer. Kohl’s would need to contract their suppliers to “drop ship” (the...
