J. C. Penney Company, Inc. reported that its comparable store sales for the five-week period ended April 2, 2011, decreased 0.3%. Online sales through jcp.com increased 7.6% over last year, while total company sales decreased 4.0% for the month.
As expected, sales during the last week of the month were negatively impacted by the shift of Easter out of the March reporting period this year. Women's apparel, fine jewelry and women's accessories reported the strongest results in March. Geographically, the southwest was the top performing region of the country.
During the month, the jcpenney brand expanded its Call it Spring by the ALDO Group and MNG by Mango concepts to 100 and 292 stores, respectively. In addition, the company announced the opening of 21 additional Sephora inside jcpenney locations in April, bringing its signature Sephora beauty assortment to even more customers across the country.
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Preliminary March Sales Summary |
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($ in millions) |
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Total Company Sales |
% Increase/(Decrease) |
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for period ended |
Total Sales |
Comp Stores |
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Apr. 02, |
Apr. 03, |
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|
2011 |
2010 |
2011 |
2010 |
2011 |
2010 |
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|
5 Weeks |
$ 1,467 |
$ 1,528 |
(4.0) |
5.0 |
(0.3) |
5.4 |
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9 Weeks |
$ 2,681 |
$ 2,710 |
(1.1) |
3.4 |
2.7 |
3.5 |
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