Dive Brief:

• J.C. Penney said Monday that it’s expanding its pilot effort to once again sell major appliances, extending those sales to almost 500 stores nationwide.

• Starting in early July through the fall, J.C. Penney will introduce major appliances to new stores every week until nearly half of its locations offer kitchen and laundry appliances from Samsung, LG, GE Appliances and Hotpoint. By later in the summer, customers nationwide also will be able to purchase the products online.

• J.C. Penney additionally said that it exceeded its Q1 EBITDA expectations and that it continues to expect to achieve its full-year EBITDA guidance of $1 billion. J.C. Penney will report its Q1 results Friday.

Dive Insight:

J.C. Penney CEO Marvin Ellison is challenging his former employer Home Depot with the decision to sell major appliances. J.C. Penney is trialing appliance sales in 22 stores in three markets, and says those results have “validated” the decision to roll out the effort across the country.

The moves are not confined to appliances, either. J.C. Penney also said that it’s expanding its window-covering sales by allocating another 25% of floor space to curtains, blinds, shades, and decorate hardware: Before the recent recession, J.C. Penney was helping a third of U.S. households to dress their windows, according to the Dallas Morning News. 

J.C. Penney is additionally boosting some furniture offerings in partnership with furniture company Ashley and will sell flooring through a partnership with carpet and flooring company Empire Today.

"The current housing market presents a lucrative opportunity to diversify our home assortment and strategically align with consumer spending patterns,” Ellison said in a statement. “By combining our soft home and window coverings merchandise with the industry's leading brands for appliances, furniture and flooring, J.C. Penney will become a destination for home design and redecorating, allowing us to weather-proof our business during seasonal periods of the year."

All these moves are meant to create consumer synergies in the home improvement market, Ellison added.

“We’re not trying to copy anyone or look in the rearview mirror for what we used to be,” Ellison told the Dallas Morning News. “But time is critical for people, and if they’re already looking for window coverings, usually the next thing they’re shopping for is flooring.”