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New York City -- A Thursday report by the Wall Street Journal said that new J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson, who recently left Apple to run the department store chain, is recruiting other former Apple players to join the J.C. Penney team. According to the report, J.C. Penney is nearing a deal with Michael Kramer, former CFO of Apple Retail from 2000 to 2005 and currently CEO of Kellwood Co., to join J.C. Penney as its COO. WSJ cited people familiar with the matter, and said Kramer will start at Penney effective Dec. 1. The report also suggested that

Seattle -- Nordstrom Inc. reported Thursday that profit for the quarter ended Oct. 29 rose 6.7% to $127 million, compared with $119 million in the year-ago period. Net sales rose 14.2% to $2.4 billion, surpassing Wall Street’s expected $2.35 billion and up from $2.1 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales climbed 7.9%. The company opened two full-line department stores – in Nashville and St. Louis -- and nine Nordstrom Rack stores during the quarter.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores said Thursday that it will kick off the holiday season at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving with three Black Friday sale events. Black Friday circulars were released Thursday via Facebook and walmart.com to promote the early savings, which include specials on electronics and toys. "Our customers told us they would rather stay up late to shop than get up early, so we're going to hold special events on Thanksgiving and Black Friday," said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer, Walmart U.S. The retailer has created store-specific maps accessible on

Target's website has crashed six times since the company launched the revamped site. As it strives to improve the online experience ahead of the holidays, Target and other merchants that have made similar moves face challenges hiring top talent from a relatively small pool of highly skilled engineers, says Forrester Research's Sucharita Mulpuru.

Flash-sale site Gilt Groupe has expanded its operations to 90 countries and said it will also offer its luxury men's site Park & Bond internationally starting next month. Also, in December, customers around the globe will be able to buy from Gilt using their mobile devices.

A proposal from a bipartisan group of 10 U.S. senators to allow state governments to collect sales taxes from out-of-state online retailers is drawing a mixed reaction from some major Internet businesses. The group is led by Sens. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. They announced Wednesday that they're introducing a bill to allow states that adopt the same administrative procedures to require online sellers to collect taxes. Under the bill dubbed the "Marketplace Fairness Act," state governments that don't accept the national standard could still collect sales taxes only if they agree to some

Currently offered for New York City only, but coming to 100 U.S. cities soon, Poorsquare takes foursquare's location and deals database to reveal the best offers by location. You can filter by free only, free with purchase or all discounts.

Wayfair, formerly known as CSN Stores, has grown from a microsite selling TV racks and stands into a 200-website home-goods company. The firm said its 5,000-plus products give it an advantage over big-box rivals and specialty brick-and-mortar retailers. "We only want to participate in categories where we can offer the customer the best experience," said co-founder and CEO Niraj Shah.

Online retail spending reached $36.3 billion for the third quarter, up 13 percent versus a year ago, according to comScore. This growth rate represented the eighth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.

Cabela's announced the introduction of PayItFast for accepting Cabela's Club Visa card payments in all of the brand's U.S. stores. The Cabela's Club Visa card is issued by World's Foremost Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cabela's.