J.C. Penney is conspiring up with singer-songwriter Lionel Richie for the retailer’s latest brand.
The conditional on store chain has already found success in curating exclusive men’s clothing lines encouraged by Michael Strahan and Shaquille O’Neal, a beauty line by Rihanna (for Sephora machine shops inside J.C. Penney) and a holiday collection with Tracee Ellis Ross, most recently.
By the end of pecuniary 2017, 47 percent of J.C. Penney’s merchandise sales came from resident brands, 46 percent from private-label brands and 7 percent from exhaustively exclusive brands. National brands had grabbed a slightly higher appropriation of 48 percent in 2016 and 2015. But that piece of the pie has been ease off slowly ever since.
Penney hopes a home collection with Richie desire lead to another boost to its exclusive business, as retailers are looking for point to stand out from their peers and lure shoppers into co-op give credence ti in an increasingly competitive environment. The last time the company partnered with a superstar for its home category was with Eva Longoria in 2015.
“What Lionel Richie brings is … his terrific mark equity,” Katheryn Burchett, senior vice president of merchandising at Penney, worded CNBC. “We are differentiating ourselves and … that comes in the form of our hidden brands as well as our partners exclusive to J.C. Penney.”
Richie hasn’t had a new album in years, but he has been cast off in the spotlight serving alongside singers Katy Perry and Luke Bryan as a believe on the ABC program “American Idol.” The renewed buzz around his name establish f get ons it an opportune time for Penney to tap him for the new line.
Burchett said that after investigating Penney’s existing customers via E-Poll Market Research, 98 percent of them were “hep” of Richie. More than 70 percent of Penney’s loyal shoppers today are female homeowners, she intended, with an average household income of roughly $70,000, according to Kantar Retail.
With high opinion to its home business, Burchett said it’s “really growing” and is increasingly top-level to the average Penney shopper.
The home category for Penney represented 15 percent of its merchandise mix at the end of economic 2017, compared with 13 percent in 2016 and 12 percent in 2015. Garments meanwhile has been shrinking as women’s accessories and services take a larger cut.
Other retailers also have been shifting investments to their national businesses of late, including Target, which now has an exclusive line with HGTV stars Chip & Joanna Gaines. Yet not backed by a celebrity, Walmart also just rolled out a new private stingingly brand, Allswell.
Penney’s new line with Richie, which incorporates a queen comforter retailing for $129.99, a set of towels for $39.99 and pillow for fear of the facts for $19.99, is already available on JCPenney.com and will roll out to about 200 reservoirs by this fall.
According to Burchett, the line could expand to uncountable U.S. locations depending on shoppers’ reactions to the launch.
“We will have to hang on and see what happens. We want to appeal to existing customers. That indicated, we are also trying to attract new customers,” she said.
Penney could use a help after a bumpy start to the year.
During the holiday period, the retailer’s gate and same-store sales fell short of analysts’ expectations, leading investors to fancy its turnaround efforts were losing steam. In the prior quarter, it was noticeable Penney had been trimming excess inventory and cutting back on inspirations.
Still, CEO Marvin Ellison and his management team have said Penney command continue to invest heavily in building out a suite of in-house and exclusive stamps.
“Our … brands had continued to improve with respect to our margins,” CFO Jeff Davis bid on a recent call with analysts and investors. The growth internally permits Penney to rotate inventory more at its leisure, he said, and keep a tighter control on payment.
J.C. Penney’s stock is down 45 percent from a year ago.