The growth of e-commerce around peak shopping season is no longer a new story, and this year was no exception. But 2017’s peak season did raise some eyebrows for getting off to an unusually early start, with sales from Nov. 1 to Nov. 22 up 17.9 percent, year-over-year, according to Internet Retailer’s report on the peak shopping season.

The scene at the East Coast’s largest mall on a recent Friday morning would seem to fly in the face of the doomsday narrative surrounding U.S. retail centers. A steady stream of holiday shoppers walked the lacquered halls, browsing stores from Gap to Gucci. By noon, a line was snaking out of an outpost of the Shake Shack burger chain.

The millennial generation's embrace of renting rather than owning has spread far beyond housing and ride-sharing, and even some traditional major retailers are taking notice.

There are a lot ways to judge retailers during the holiday season. Is store inventory overflowing, as it was a couple of years ago? Are chains discounting like crazy? But what really matters for most retailers is whether they are successfully fighting off Amazon.com Inc.

The French Ministry for the Economy is taking Amazon to court, accusing the e-commerce giant of imposing unfair contracts on suppliers.

Package-delivery companies are bracing for their busiest week of the holiday season, and one with less room for error.

Are you making the fourth industrial revolution happen, or is the disruption happening to you?