• Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, May 4, 2010 10:46 AM

J.C. Penney is adding mobile and interactive features to its e-commerce site, which it is also redesigning, in an effort to accelerate online sales that have been slowing down in recent years, Rachel Dodes reports. New features will include product reviews and targeted promotions to shoppers' smart phones.

"This is the next generation of how to make things better, and how to be a better competitor," says CEO Myron E. Ullman III, who has led efforts to unify online and store pricing and shorten product cycles. "A lot of what we're spending on right now isn't that visible to the consumer," he points out.

Penney was the first large retailer to start selling online; its 1993 Web site was a natural extension for its catalog business. But online sales have been flat for the past three years and, until 18 months ago, the Web and store divisions operated separately and emphasized different products.

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