Dive Brief:

• Walmart-owned Jet is offering 5% JetCash back on orders placed between Sept. 18 and Oct. 29, adding up to no more than $50, the e-commerce retailer told Retail Dive in an email.

• The JetCash earned from those purchases can be redeemed on Nov. 13 at midnight, according to a company press release. Each JetCash dollar accrues a dollar off a Jet purchase on that day, the company said.

• Meanwhile, J.C. Penney announced on Monday that it will hire some 40,000 seasonal workers this year, about the same as last year, when the department store was among retailers hiring the most temporary workers at the holidays, the company said in a blog post.

Dive Insight:

With retailers announcing their holiday hiring schemes left and right, and holiday hiring expected to increase this year, J.C. Penney falls somewhere in the middle of the moves made by other major retailers. Target, for one, plans to increase seasonal hiring by 40% and Toys R Us has plans to hire despite its bankruptcy filing. Meanwhile, Macy's seasonal hiring will decline 4% and Walmart isn't planning on hiring at all. But it seems like Walmart has more up its sleeve with the revitalization of JetCash.

In Jet's short life as a standalone startup, Jet aimed to disrupt modern retail’s great disruptor, Amazon, by offering lower prices that took into account factors like basket size, shipping options and merchandise proximity to buyers. Now, as a unit of Walmart, along with a series of e-commerce brands acquired since then, the company is helping to accelerate the retail giant’s e-commerce numbers.

That being said, JetCash appeared to be shuttered in May, when Walmart pulled the plug on the Jet Anywhere customer rewards program, but the big box retailer now seems to be reviving it, at least for the holidays. The 600-plus participating Jet Anywhere affiliates included Lands’ End, Bloomingdale’s, Wine.com and Saks Fifth Avenue.

JetCash before Walmart was unwieldy and far from ideal for any e-commerce site, because it entailed leaving Jet's platform to shop elsewhere, a Jet spokesperson told Retail Dive earlier this year. Or it simply may have been too unprofitable for Jet to continue. Profitability wasn’t even on the horizon for Jet when it was scooped up by Walmart last year. Certainly Jet Anywhere’s stated mission — bolstering Jet’s assortment — has no longer been needed now that it's a Walmart joint.

Generally speaking, Jet maintains Walmart’s commitment to low prices while also attempting to appeal to a different customer — more urban, wealthier, younger — than Walmart itself does. Under Jet Anywhere, shoppers were able to leave Jet's site to shop on Jet Anywhere-affiliated sites, then email receipts of their purchases to Jet to collect a percentage of what they spent as JetCash earmarked toward future Jet orders.

The holiday JetCash offer is more straight-forward, aimed at simply driving holiday shoppers to the site. "Beyond offering consumers access to a great assortment of brands and products this holiday season, we also wanted to add value to their various ‘Holiday Moments’ throughout the Fall by giving them (Jet) cash towards essential items and gifts," Jet president Liza Landsman said in a statement. "This effort rewards our loyal customers with some cash towards their holiday shopping and also attracts new shoppers to check out Jet.com, letting them decide how and what to use their credit towards."

This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the 2017 holiday shopping season. You can browse our holiday page and sign up for our holiday newsletter for more stories.