With sales plummeting nearly $1 billion dollars, I don’t think the new J.C. Penny price structure is having the positive impact that the company initially expected. Best Buy’s stagnant approach isn’t working for them, either. In this week’s Retail Rap, I look at both approaches and offer my opinion on what each company can do to try to right their sinking ships.

I’m not sure how much of this is just the inevitable growing pains associated with the process of implementing the new plan. I think this could be a case of “too much too soon.” A radical new pricing overhaul that was supposed to bring clarity has instead brought confusion, and customers have clearly not responded well to J.C. Penney’s attempt to eliminate the concept of sales and restructure their promotional offerings. Because they were having trouble communicating the new strategy to customers, Johnson has recently announced that they will do some backtracking. Among other things, they’re bringing back sales, which is probably a good start.

Check out the full article from my recurring column, Retail Rap, at Chain Store Age.