J.C. Penney to Cut 475 Jobs

Plano, TX-based cataloger/retailer J.C. Penney Corp. is closing its Austin, TX, telemarketing center as part of a plan to save more than $100 million annually. As a result of closure, expected to occuring during the second quarter, approximately 475 jobs will be lost. Penney will reallocate the call volume to its nine other telemarketing centers.

The department store operations, the catalog division, and “most divisions of the corporate office will be affected” by the restructuring, according to Penney spokesperson Tim Lyons.

Penney will also be refining its investment in marketing by eliminating less productive expenditures and reducing overall production costs. One area to be affected, Lyons says, will be direct mail efforts such as store traffic drivers. The overall cost reduction effort will be phased in over several years.