Sales at JCPenney (Plano, Texas) fell more than 10 percent year over year in the third quarter, while comp sales fell 9.3 percent, or 6.6 percent if excluding appliances, according to Retail Dive.
In order to reduce shrink and get out of the furniture and appliance categories, the department store retailer reduced its cost of goods sold by 3.5 percent and cut inventory by 9 percent, Retail Dive reports.
JCPenney’s losses were smaller than anticipated, which helped send the company’s stock price up by 12.7 percent in premarket trading.
The retailer has a “plan for renewal” in place, which aims to center merchandise around lifestyle categories, increase customer traffic, design an experience, build a “results-minded culture” and cut costs, Retail Dive reports.