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The retailer is betting its loyalty program, which features a mobile wallet inside the Kohl's app, will provide a key competitive advantage for this holiday season and beyond, and help make up for a bleak third quarter.

Good Morning. Kohl's Corp. views the digital wallet as much more than a payments system. The retailer is betting that its loyalty program, which features a mobile, digital wallet inside the Kohl's app, will provide a key competitive advantage for this holiday season and beyond, and help make up for a bleak third quarter. A pilot program across 300 stores in 2013 and 2014 produced about 10 million enrollees in the loyalty program, CIO Janet Schalk told CIO Journal's Steven Norton. Since launching nationwide in early October, that number has doubled to 20 million. Most technology payments providers solely focus on payments, says Ratnakar Lavu, Kohl's EVP for digital technology. While he doesn't deny the importance of payments, he says "there's really no one who's doing something related to offers or rewards." Kohl's has redesigned its website and mobile apps, implemented Oracle Corp. systems to handle inventory and pricing, and is testing a new point-of-sale system. It also has rolled out "buy online, pick up in store" options at some stores, and is shipping products from about 800 locations. Eventually, Kohl's may look to integrate its loyalty program with its payments systems. The company has built systems that will take different kinds of payments and integrate with other mobile wallets in the marketplace.