JC Penney's pricing plan was never explained or substantiated. Nobody knows what thereal price of products should be at any store, not just Penney’s, which means there’s always going to be a suspicion or expectation that they can (or should) go lower. The “no sale” strategy was opaque on this fundamental issue when it could have established a new approach to support its prices with clearer explanations of costs, more transparency on suppliers, even aggressive attacks on the competitions’ pricing.