Dive Brief:
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J.C. Penney Thursday reported same-store holiday sales grew 3.9% thanks to an e-commerce boost and healthy sales of its house labels and gift items.
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The retailer also reaffirmed its full-year estimate of $645 million for EBITDA and said it plans to deliver free cash flow for the year.
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The retailer’s report Thursday was in stark contrast to that of Macy’s, which Wednesday had attributed 80% of its 4.7% decline in same-store sales to warm weather, which hurt sales of winter apparel.
Dive Insight:
J.C. Penney has been somewhat lackluster when it comes to e-commerce, a situation that comes with a silver lining. The upside is that the company has room for improvement. The retailer apparently managed to ignite some e-commerce growth in time for the holidays, saying it had “record” web sales during November and December.
CEO Marvin R. Ellison attributed the web sales surge in part to the company’s omnichannel efforts, which include using stores as fulfillment centers and offering in-store pickup of online orders in some stores.
"Although we have much work to do, our strengthened omnichannel capabilities enabled our supply chain network to process millions of jcp.com orders this season, supported by 250 stores across the country that helped fulfill online orders using in-store inventory,” Ellison said in a statement. “With this level of selection, we saw more online customers take advantage of our in-store pick up option available at over 1,000 JCPenney stores nationwide. We look forward to capitalizing on this digital progress through 2016.”