I’ve read Bob Sullivan’s excellent and infuriating little book “Gotcha Capitalsm”, so I could have told you that JC Penney’s admirable “fair and square” pricing strategy was not going to work out for them:

The real problem is Penney’s ill-fated attempt to cast itself as the only fair poker player in a game of cheats. Shoppers just aren’t buying it. However unsophisticated consumers are, very few of them believe a pair of shoes bought at Penney’s everyday low price will be cheaper than a pair of shoes bought at Macy’s on clearance with a 25 percent off coupon.

Bummer.

(Via Marco Arment)