The Customer Acquisition Generation Gap Redux

The greatest challenge in bridging the gap — or at least straddling it for the short term — is taking a cold, hard look at possible options and their likelihood of success. Picking on J.C. Penney again, turning an old-line clothing retailer into a hip outlet is a stretch to say the least. Apple's retail stores succeed in large part because of the passion its employees have for what they sell and the aura of cool those products are surrounded by. T-shirts and shorts don't, and likely can't, engender this type of loyalty, passion or coolness.