J.C. Penney Co. Inc. announced another 350 jobs would be cut at its Plano, Texas headquarter in order to align its costs with those of rival department stores. The cuts will be in addition to its previous plans to cut costs by $900 million annually by the end of this year.
The layoffs come at a time where J.C. Penney is making other business transformations within the store, including large changes to its pricing strategy, putting an end to coupons and sales events, and remodeling its 1,100 stores around the country.
"One of the most challenging tasks for any leadership team is to reorganize a company," said Chief Executive Ron Johnson. "The actions taken today mark the final phase of those efforts."
As of January 28, J.C. Penney had 159,000 workers. However, in April the company announced plans to lay off 600 headquarter employees.
"We have simplified processes, removed unnecessary work and reduced layers to help us make better and faster decisions. While difficult, these decisions are in the long-term interests of JCP and our stakeholders," Johnson added.
Upon the start of the store's turnaround plan, it predicted that it could save $200 million a year in costs. However, the plan to transform J.C. Penney is not going as well as the company had hoped, as the store's first quarter sales fell 18.9 percent, in addition to suffering from inventory markdowns and restructuring charges.
