JCPenney has struggled this year as a department-store retailer as their margins decreased significantly due to weak sales. According to CNBC, the gross margins came at 30.8 percent, which is 7% less than it was last year. With back-to-school shopping coming up, the large retailer decided to turn to Debra Berman, Kraft Food Groups’ branding executive for help with their highest profiting time of the year.
Although JCPenney focused on discount-driven strategies to gain profits, it was clear that this tactic fell short this year as they steered more towards everyday low prices. Berman worked as the Vice-President for marketing strategy and directed global digital branding strategies since 2009. With experience on both the client side and the agency side, Berman understands the needs of both sides. While at Kraft, Berman completed 55 new branding strategies and brought more branding work and in-house planning to the company.
As Berman has only been announced as the new marketing chief of JCPenney two days ago, we’re still unsure of what she plans to do to boost their sales. However, with her impressive background and experience, she is sure to significantly help JCPenney climb out of its hole on onto the path of profitable growth.