No store inventory search at JCPenney.com for now
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. has deferred for a year plans to allow online customers to search store inventories so they can come to the store knowing that what they want to buy is in stock. “We have the infrastructure to do this but there wasn’t the ROI this year,” Robert Green, manager, Internet systems development for JCPenney.com told the Retail Systems 2001 conference Wednesday. Green says the company was surprised that there was not a large demand for that feature.
JCPenney.com is making other changes to its search function, however. It is now allowing customers at the site to search for products that J.C. Penney partners offer. JCPenney.com has partnership agreements with Little Tikes, Flowers Direct, Palm Beach Jewelry and others.
Green noted the importance of search to a retailing site: As many as 40% of JCPenney.com customers don’t try to navigate the site to find what they want; they go directly to the search function.
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