J.Crew is trying to be more like Starbucks to win back customers (SBUX, JCG)

pulse

February 16, 2018 5:45 PM

J.Crew has hired a former Starbucks executive to help it beef up its customer-experience efforts.

J.Crew has hired a former
The company is making big investments to turn around its business.
Adam Brotman, who was at Starbucks for nearly nine years, was at one time responsible for the coffee giant's digital platform.

J.Crew is repairing its executive team after the sudden departure of longtime CEO Mickey Drexler and creative director Jenna Lyons.

The struggling retailer has created a new role to aid in its turnaround and hired Starbucks executive Adam Brotman to fill it, Recode reported.

Brotman will take on the role of president and chief experience officer, which is targeted at creating a better interaction between customers and the company.

J.Crew has struggled in recent years: same-store sales have been down at J.Crew for the past three years, dropping by 8% in 2016 following a 10% decrease the year before. In its most recent earnings report, in the third quarter of 2017, sales had dropped by 12%. The company has not yet released its fourth-quarter results.

Sales growth peaked at the company in 2004 and 2014 with Drexler and Lyons at the helm. The store increasingly became more upscale, and prices crept up. But customers claimed the brand had become unaffordable and impractical.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in May 2017, Drexler said that the retailer's biggest mistake over the last few years was that it had raised prices at a time when customers were increasingly cost-conscious.

J.Crew did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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