Business

Hugs, not plugs

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C’mere, give us a hug — or at least try to dress yourself a little better.

JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson said he wants to “put a big bear hug around Middle America,” where shoppers have fled Penney stores in droves since the retailer ditched coupons in favor of chic, Target-like marketing.

“I want to take them places where they didn’t know they could get,” the former Apple exec said, apparently taking a dig at dowdy clothing and home decor in Middle American households.

Likewise, in a poke at the retailer’s former business strategy, Johnson lamented that Penney’s merchandise has long been “designed by in-house teams, not designed by anybody who has any real great design skill.”

The 52-year-old exec — who is fond of invoking the wisdom of his former boss, the late Steve Jobs — likened Penney’s bumpy business to that of a startup company.

“The only question is, what size will the startup be?” Johnson said at a tech conference sponsored by Fortune magazine in Aspen, Colo. “Is it $15 billion in revenue? Is it 14? Is it 13.5? Is it 14.5? We’re going to get to the right level.”

Penney shares hit another 52-week low yesterday, dropping to $19.06 before rallying to close up 2.4 percent at $19.71 — their first uptick after eight straight declines.

“At least he gave the chance there could be upside,” one analyst told The Post.

Last month, Johnson shocked investors by firing president Michael Francis, a former Target exec who had led Penney’s flopped marketing push this spring.

Penney will scale back the sleek, Target-like ads from the spring — which, to the chagrin of some right-wing groups, featured gay couples — and focus more on low prices in the fall, Johnson said.

He also is dismantling a three-tiered pricing strategy that confused customers.

“We’re going to simplify our pricing; you’ll hear about that really soon,” Johnson said, indicating that he was getting rid of “month-long value” promotions in favor of a typical two-tiered strategy with regular-priced and discounted goods.

Johnson also raised the prospect of further layoffs; Penney is rolling out self-checkout stations this fall, as well as a system that allows shoppers to check out using iPhones and iPads.

“About 10 percent of all the money we spend goes to transactions,” Johnson said, pledging to eliminate cash registers by the end of 2013.

Warm embrace