JCPenney — No Sales Strategy

CEO Ron Johnson eliminated coupons and sales events in 2012, replacing them with flat pricing that his team calculated would save $0.12 per item in overhead. Instead, revenue cratered by 25% in one year—a $4.2 billion loss—as coupon-hunting traffic dropped 30% monthly. The strategy alienated 40% of core customers who came exclusively for discounts, causing a 95% drop in social media mentions of JCPenney.