J.C. Penney's decision to close its Carmichael call center on March 20 will cost 260 local jobs and put a dent in the Sacramento area's recent reputation as a call-center magnet.
Citing changes in customer-ordering habits, Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney confirmed last week that it would shutter its call center at Fair Oaks Boulevard and El Camino Avenue.
While the center has handled catalog sales and telemarketing operations for much of the western United States for more than 20 years, J.C. Penney officials said an increasing number of customers are ordering merchandise online.
J.C. Penney spokesman Tim Lyons said "over the phone" business has decreased steadily over the past decade.
The retailer said it will continue to operate five similar call centers nationwide, with Western region calls diverted to other sites.
At the dawn of the decade, Sacramento was being hailed as a call-center mecca.
From 1996 through mid-2001, about 40 centers set up shop in the Sacramento area, according to the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization.
In 2003, the California State Automobile Association opened a 500-employee call center in Elk Grove and talked up plans of expansion.
Last year, CSAA said it was moving up its planned closure of that facility to the end of 2010, as opposed to the previously reported 2011.
Layne Holley, managing editor of publications with the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based International Customer Management Institute (ICMC), said Monday that call centers are a likely cutting point for retailers amid the recession.
"Obviously, in this economy, that's one of the first things you think about," Holley said. "But I think it could be something they planned over a while. Even in a down economy, industries realize that their contact centers are very valuable. They do not let go of them lightly."
Holley said, as a U.S. industry, call centers "have been suffering at different levels."
Holley noted that while all call centers have the same basic function, the companies they work for can be "drastically different. … Is the whole industry suffering? Not necessarily. It depends on a lot of things.
"I would say that any industry that has a customer-facing element is probably trying to become more efficient."
Brad Cleveland, senior adviser to ICMI, said the overall call-center industry is still on a growth path, with the brick-and-mortar retail and financial sectors down but improvement in the general travel segment and online retail sites such as Amazon.com.
Call The Bee's Mark Glover, (916) 321-1184.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.