Retail

J.C. Penney Tinkers With Pricing -- Again

J.C. Penney Co. Inc.’s (NYSE: JCP) CEO Ron Johnson is either lowering prices on much of the troubled retailer’s store inventory or raising those prices instead. Most analysts believe neither path will work because consumers have deserted J.C. Penney’s permanently for other department stores like Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) big-box retailers like Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT).

According to The New York Post:

JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson has quietly begun to hike prices across the company’s stores, The Post has learned.

It’s a humiliating about-face as the former Apple exec scrambles to restore the traditional sales events he ditched last year.

The increases are significant, as prices return broadly to previous levels before Johnson slashed them in his “fair and square” initiative. The push permanently lowered prices while eliminating sales events and coupons in February 2012, sources said.

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