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But now, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart’s warehouse chain, is offering a program called eValues that strives to offer bargains tailored to each member, based on that member’s buying history. Industry experts said they expected other retailers to move toward more individualized offers, too. Today, most retailers offer across-the-board discounts or deals aimed at categories of customers.

Welcome to Online Retailing 2.0. Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers once outsourced their online sales to specialty "fulfillment" companies. Today they are running their own online operations — and increasingly challenging their executive brainpower to find more sophisticated ways to compete with online-only retailers such as Amazon.com.

As Best Buy faces heightened competition from rivals Wal-Mart and Amazon.com, the largest U.S. electronics retailer is confronting a longstanding disadvantage: fewer women shoppers. Best Buy's customers and worker are overwhelmingly male, a vestige from its days as a seller of speakers and stereo equipment. While Best Buy estimated earlier this year that it commanded roughly 22 percent of U.S. consumer electronics sales, its share of sales to women was just 16 percent, and only 31 percent of store workers are women. Now, the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer is trying to bridge its gender gap.

Amazon.com, the world’s largest online merchant, won the top spot in an annual survey of the healthiest U.S. and Canadian retailers for a second year in a row as more shoppers make purchases online. Amazon’s technology keeps inventory levels and expenses down, said Consensus Advisors Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Hara, whose firm did the survey. Aeropostale, Urban Outfitters, CVS Caremark Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores round out the top five in the list, released this week.

Toys"R"Us announced that it has introduced its Christmas Savers Club, a program that allows shoppers to begin setting aside money with the added benefit of earning a bonus, simply for saving early. Those who sign up for the Christmas Savers Club between now and Oct. 16 will receive a 3 percent bonus based on the total funds they save. Customers can save up to $2,500 per card, which means the most aggressive savers can earn up to $75 on top of the money they load on their cards.

The Direct Marketing Association today released the 2010 Response Rate Trend Report, which provides key cost and performance benchmarks to help marketers gauge the efficiency of their campaigns. The updated report shows effective paid search campaigns usually lead to a multistep sales process.

Tiffany & Co. says it's launching a new app for iPhones to make finding the perfect engagement ring easier. It includes a ring-sizing feature, which it claims is the first of its kind from a jeweler.

Apple is believed to be in the final stages of preparing a new retail application for the iPhone. Functioning as a mobile version of the Apple retail store, the offering in question will enable users to view products, place orders, schedule genius bar appointments in-store, and experience many of the same virtues native to an on-site visit at a brick-and-mortar location.

The Golf Warehouse announces the recent launch of its iPad application, which provides golfers with easy and mobile access to the premier online golf superstore: TGW.com. Customers can experience and enjoy the visual richness of a true catalog combined with the ability to browse and buy TGW products anytime, anywhere — even on the golf course!

PC Mall announced today that Sarcom, one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, has acquired substantially all of the assets of Network Services Plus as of June 8, 2010. The terms of the transaction include an initial purchase price of $7.8 million, less a customary hold-back to settle indemnity claims. PC Mall is also extinguishing substantially all of NSPI’s indebtedness, which net of acquired working capital is approximately $1.3 million. Pursuant to the terms of the asset purchase agreement, NSPI’s shareholders can earn additional consideration based on the performance of the NSPI business over the next two years.