A few years ago, DHL Express was in a downward spiral of data quality. The company had used a Microsoft costing tool deployed locally in the 200 countries in it operates. Graeme Aitkin, vice president of business controlling, said the tool used employee interviews to localize cost allocations, asking couriers how they spent their time every day. In the old days, he said, when the data wasn't available, it wasn't possible for a company to have a unified costing and pricing system across a global company.

Back in the fall, Macy's spokesman Jim Sluzewski said his company would consider further expansion of its ship-from-store initiatives after it evaluates its 2012 holiday sales figures. The chain already expanded the project to more than 290 stores before the holiday season began.

Tokyo-based retailer BEAMS Co. Ltd. has incorporated radio frequency identification technology at five B:MING Life Stores that it recently opened in Japan. The stores are employing RFID technology for both tracking inventory and improving efficiency at the point of sale.

In one of the biggest flops of the dot-com era, Webvan went bust less than two years after its $375m initial public offering in 1999. That's because it built a warehouse and distribution system for products that are already available within three miles of most consumers, says Rich Tarrant, CEO of MyWebGrocer.

Research released by Voxware indicates two thirds of consumers return online or phone purchases because of retailer error - usually delivering an item in the wrong size or color - and repeat business suffers as a result. On top of that, the returns process is flawed in many cases.

Symphony EYC, a player in retail and distribution improvement software formerly known as Aldata, announced that its second U.S. holiday shopping survey has determined that in the United States shoppers want to use their mobile phones to make shopping easier, more personalized, and to have more control over inventory, but that purchasing groceries with a mobile is still in its infancy.