J.C. Penney is testing a partnership with Trane to sell HVAC equipment at its retail stores. Penney completed a rollout of kitchen and laundry appliance departments at 500 of its 1,000 store in October as the retailer makes plans to sell big-ticket items.

Chief executive officer Marvin Ellison was at Home Depot before he came to Penney. A big focus of Ellison's has been to find ways to boost sales in home, which lost the most revenue during an attempt to reinvent the department store by former CEO Ron Johnson.

So-called “home goods,” used to account for 21 percent of Penney’s sales, but only account for about 13 percent currently. Prior to the rollout, the company had stopped selling home appliances in 1983.

The HVAC pilot program started in November at a “small number of store,” according to Penney spokesperson Sarah Holland.

More details here.

Source: Fortune