Which Would You Rather – Sears or JC Penny?

It has been a rough ride for former market stars Sears SHLD and JC Penny JCP. With the combination of the rise of internet retailers such as Amazon.com and auction site Ebay.com, and the ever increasing market share of giant Wal-Mart, Sears and JCP have been left scratching for customers.

2013 proved to be a bit of an up and down year for Sears, with the company starting the year in the range of $40.50 and ending the year with an intra-day high of just under $50.00. For those who held Sears stock at the beginning until the end of the year this represented an increase to the order of 23% - respectable but below market averages. Those who were lucky enough to sell the stock near the yearly high of $67.50, which was reached in November, fared far better. However, those who held the stock into the New Year have seen the stock sell off by about 15 percent.

2013 was even tougher on JC Penny. The stock started 2013 at a relatively respectable $20.00 per share. Since late February 2013 it has been all downhill for JC Penny, with the stock closing out at just $9.00. In a year where the S&P flirted with a 30 percent return, JC Penny investors were losing money hand over first, losing over 50 percent of their equity for the year. Investors sold out of the company due to dissatisfaction with the pace of turn around.

If department stores don't make big changes soon, they will be going the way of the dinosaur. During the holiday season of 2013 online purchases surged another 2.3 percent over their 2012 tally, with very little of those purchases being registered with online portals for JC Penny or Sears. But, there is some hope. In a recent piece in Forbes' online magazine writer Clare O'Connor cites a study of 1,700 consumers, cutting across all demographics, which showed that retailers still have plenty of opportunity for growth. The study uncovered the startling fact that 79 percent of respondents listed “instant ownership” as a retailer's most appealing attribute. This included both online and offline retailers.

This survey shows that both Sears and JC Penney have potential for future growth, if they can only learn how to appeal to both Millennials and seniors. In fact, in the survey listed above, the Millennial subset ranked having unlimited options and positive customer reviews as being more important than immediate ownership, still leaving a wide opening for traditional retailers.