Jewelry a Top Seller at Macy's, J.C. Penney

RAPAPORT... Macy's and J.C. Penney noted strong sales in their jewelry divisions in the fourth fiscal quarter, even as overall results disappointed.Macy's also said it would implement a new strategy to focus on the category, as well as other products that mattered most to its customers. "[We plan to] invest in areas where the company already has strong market share to drive disproportionate growth," the company said Tuesday. "These categories are dresses, fine jewelry, big ticket, men's tailored, women's shoes and beauty." The retailer will leverage those divisions to push traffic to other areas of its stores, it said. "We know that Macy's is the destination for [those categories]," the department-store chain's CEO, Jeff Gennette, said on an analyst call transcribed by Seeking Alpha. "When a customer comes to us to shop in one of these categories, we have the opportunity to drive cross-shopping inter-related content within the store, and this is the competitive advantage of being a department store." The retailer also plans to eliminate approximately 100 positions at its executive level to streamline its management structure and lower costs, it said. Meanwhile, J.C. Penney noted that jewelry was among its top-performing divisions in the fourth quarter. "We have already taken meaningful steps to drive improvement in key businesses such as women's apparel, active apparel, special-sized apparel and fine jewelry," said J.C. Penney CEO Jill Soltau. "We know we need to move faster to reestablish the fundamentals of retail, build capabilities focused on satisfying our customers' wants and needs, and ensure that our digital and store operations operate seamlessly to provide an experience that wins with customers," she added. Macy's revenue slid 2.5% year on year to $8.46 billion in the fourth fiscal quarter ending February 2. Sales at J.C. Penney dropped 9.5% to $3.67 billion for the same period.Image: A Macy's store in Atlanta, Georgia. (Macy's)