Playing the J.C. Penney Blame Game

No, it's not a new promotion, but it is the latest excuse for J.C. Penney's holiday losses. OK, sure, the market hasn't been at its best, but shares of J.C Penney tumbled last week after the ever-struggling, emotional engagement-deficient retailer posted a loss for the holiday quarter, despite improving category sales trends. We can't quite figure out why people were surprised about the results, which was the way it was spun in the press. We weren't. Surprised, we mean. J.C. Penney had been at the bottom of our Customer Loyalty Engagement Index for a while now.