J.C. Penney

Three retailers have been named "geniuses," and it may not be who you expected (well, at least one of the companies). L2, a business benchmarking service, awarded Nordstrom, Macy's and Sears "genius status," the highest honor of a five-tiered ranking system in its recent Digital IQ Index: Department Stores. Macy's and Nordstrom have been ranked highly in the past, however, I have to admit, I was surprised to see ailing retailer Sears join them at the top of the list. Over the last few months, we've heard reports of Sears closing multiple storefronts as well as management issues. Just this past week it was reported that the company probably won't last past the 2016 fiscal year. So how did Sears earn the title of "genius"?

While retailers are diving headfirst into mobile payments, consumers appear to be a bit more hesitant. Usage of digital wallets remains at less than one-third, even though a surprisingly high number of U.S. consumers — 80 percent — recognize the technology as an alternative to cash-based transactions, according to a survey of more than 2,000 smartphone, tablet and desktop users from local search and digital marketing research firm Thrive Analytics.

As it reported last week mounting losses, dwindling sales and further evidence it's been burning through cash, Sears Holdings said it was looking for added flexibility in lining up financing. Here's a rundown of four ways the troubled retailer could raise enough money to keep the lights on:

Same-store sales growth of 6 percent and e-commerce strength helped J.C. Penney dramatically reduce its second quarter operating loss and demonstrate growing momentum of its turnaround. Sales at the operator of 1,060 stores increased to $2.8 billion from $2.66 billion. The 6 percent comp increase was against a prior year comparison when comps declined 11.5 percent. Online sales through jcp.com were $249 million for the quarter, up 16.7 percent versus the same period last year. The company reported an operating loss of $70 million that, while sizable, was dramatically less than a prior year loss of $395 million. 

J.C. Penney might just have turned a crucial corner. The ailing department store, which has been losing business to rival companies such as Macy's and Kohl's over the last three years, reported decent first-quarter results in May that may hint at a much-awaited turnaround at

It may seem like summer just got here, but for the nation's largest retailers, the fierce fight for back-to-school (BTS) bucks is already on. J.C. Penney has announced a new marketing campaign aimed at sparking self-expression in teenagers’ wardrobes. Macy's, too, is beating the drum for its apparel, including a fashion link with Teen Vogue. And Sears has just announced its new Seventeen magazine clothing line, rolling out in stores and online. 

Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes — and now that's true of some retail store mannequins. Shoppers in New York City are celebrating five unique mannequins in the store windows of J.C. Penney. The national retailer is showcasing the mannequins, including the model of a woman in a wheelchair, a man with dwarfism and a double leg amputee, which were specially designed for "TODAY's" Love Your Selfie series with the help of Fusion Specialties in Denver. 

Despite having a pulse this year after a disastrous 2013, J.C. Penney can't secure a permanent CEO to take the reins from current leader Mike Ullman. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Mindy Grossman, CEO of Home Shopping Network and a highly regarded retail industry executive, turned down the chance to become J.C. Penney's next chief some two months ago. That means Grossman turned down the gig around the time of J.C. Penney's May 15 first-quarter earnings report, in which it delivered both top- and bottom-line results that were ahead of Wall Street expectations.

From the beginning, Apple's retail stores were intended to both be a showcase for the company's products and a place where communities would form. But until now, we've only known about the success of the former goal, and not the latter. Indeed, the retail stores generated $4 billion in profits on sales of $20.2 billion during fiscal 2013. But how many of the stores 395 million visitors during the year were actually paying customers? During an appearance last month organized by Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, former Apple Senior Vice President of Retail Ron Johnson answered that question.

Ron Johnson, who has been keeping a relatively low profile since he was ousted from J.C. Penney in April 2013, took to the podium in May, as a guest lecturer at Stanford University. Johnson discussed with Stanford Graduate School of Business students J.C. Penney, Apple and Target, and the lessons learned over his career in retail. Looking back on his time at Penney, Johnson believes it was the pace of his transformation plan, as opposed to the plan itself, that was wrong. It was too fast for a company as traditional as Penney.