I Worked at Three Retailers That Went Bankrupt. Here Is What I Saw.

I ran digital inside three big retailers. JCPenney, Art Van, and Conn's HomePlus. All three later filed for bankruptcy.

Each time, I was hired to fix the digital business. And each time, the real story was underneath it. At Art Van, private equity debt and a sale-leaseback left no room to be wrong. At JCPenney, a $2 billion digital business could not outrun too many stores and a fading customer. At Conn's, the company really sold credit, and when the loans went bad, so did the company.

Three times I was asked to fix the website. Three times the answer was debt, store count, or lending. A great brand can still go broke. Watch the money, not just the marketing.

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