JC Penney掌门人：置之死地而后生

    罗恩•约翰逊一手打造和经营了苹果（Apple）辉煌无比的零售业务，这段经历对他影响至深，让他坚信独立思考，即使身处逆境，依然坚持自己的主张。

    如今，身为JC Penney首席执行官的约翰逊正在运用这些经验，试图担起重任，重振这家没落的零售企业。

    “这是一场马拉松，”约翰逊在科罗拉多州阿斯彭出席财富技术头脑风暴（Fortune's Brainstorm Tech）会议期间接受采访时称。“我们将坚持我们的计划。”

    约翰逊承认，自他去年11月出任CEO以来，并不是所有事情都按计划取得了预期效果。JC Penney取消优惠劵和折扣的一贯策略，招致很多顾客的不满。营销计划效果不佳。商店客流下降，销售额大幅下滑。

    但约翰逊表示，将继续坚持自己的核心计划，通过每天提供有竞争力的价格重新赢得客户，“我们希望每一天都是购物的好日子”。他相信，顾客适应了新的定价之后，JC Penney“能够赢得商业信誉”。

    约翰逊还特别列出了公司门店中正在进行的一些改革。JC Penney已经摒弃了过时的技术基础架构，换上了基于甲骨文（Oracle）的系统。新技术将大大改善店内体验，提供手机结账、自助结账以及RFID标签（而非条形码），这些都将加快购物的速度。

    约翰逊还透露，JC Penney将开始在数千门店内设立微商店，提供更好的购物体验，希望将顾客重新吸引到店里。但他说，与其他公司的转型一样，JC Penney的转变不会在一夜之间发生，一段时间内公司的销售额可能会继续下降，然后才会开始再次增长。

    “我们会把它当作一家初创公司，”约翰逊说。“唯一的问题是这家初创公司的规模有多大。”他拒绝说明公司能承受精简到什么程度，但表示董事会完全支持他的计划。“我们将达到适当的水平”。

    他随后补充说：“苹果曾经历了比JC Penney今年还要痛苦得多的艰难岁月。转型必然需要时间。”

    面对大部分都相信互联网零售业将摧毁实体店的听众，约翰逊发表了截然相反的看法。他说，他看好实体零售业务，认为互联网零售业就像几十年前的目录购物一样，终将进入平台期。他说，不同的零售目录将在不同的节点上达到平衡，而 “实体零售店始终会拥有一席之地”。如果他必须在真砖实瓦的实体零售店和仅有在线服务的商家之间选择的话，约翰逊说：“我会毫无犹豫地选择实体零售店”。

    译者：早稻米

    Ron Johnson's experience building and running Apple's (AAPL) formidable retail operation was formative. It taught him to think differently and to stick to his convictions even in the face of adversity.

    Now Johnson is applying these lessons to the challenging task of turning around JC Penney (JCP), the struggling retailer where Johnson is CEO.

    "We're in a marathon here," Johnson said during an interview at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado. "We are going to stick to our plan."

    Johnson admitted that not everything has gone according to plan since he became CEO in November. The company angered many consumers when it moved away from its strategy of offering coupons and discounts. Its marketing plan misfired. Traffic to stores declined and sales dropped sharply.

    But Johnson said he will stick to his core plan to win customers back by offering competitive prices every day. "We want every day to be a great day to shop," he said. After customers get used to the new pricing, he added, JC Penney will "have a business based on integrity."

    Johnson also highlighted some of the improvements he is making in the stores. He announced that JC Penney had scrapped an outdated technology infrastructure and replaced it with an Oracle-based system. The new technology will allow the company to improve the in-store experience with mobile checkouts, self checkouts and tags based on RFID instead of bar codes, which would speed up purchases.

    Johnson said that JC Penney would begin launching mini-stores within thousands of its retail outlets in order to offer more compelling shopping experiences intended to bring customers back. But he said the transformation of JC Penney, like any other turnaround, will not happen overnight, and that the company may lose more sales before it starts growing again.

    "We are going to treat it like a start up," Johnson said. "The only question is what size will the startup be." He declined to say how much the company could afford to downsize, but said his board is squarely behind his plan. "We are going to get to the right level," he said.

    He later added: "Apple went through much tougher years than we are going through this year at Penney's. Transformation takes time."

    Facing an audience that largely believes that online retail will obliterate physical stores, Johnson took a contrarian view. He said he is bullish on physical retailing, and predicted that online retailing, just like catalog shopping a few decades ago, will eventually reach a plateau. He said different categories of retailing will level off at different points, and that "the physical store will have a permanent place." If he had to choose between a bricks and mortar retailer and an online only merchant, Johnson said, "I take a physical retailer in a heartbeat."