Your customer service representative answers a call from an irate customer. "This darn thing I bought just doesn't work!" he exclaims. "I've tried and tried to get help from your service folks, but they're always late and they can't fix it either. I've had it with you guys. I want my money back!" Big Data can help you retain that customer.

Looking at the 12-month period ending with July 2012, the winery-to-consumer shipping channel has grown to $1.35bn, representing 8.6 percent of the total U.S. wine retail market, according to a report from ShipCompliant and Wines + Vines Magazine.

Toys "R" Us CEO Jerry Storch has taken a light saber to the idea that the future belongs to the internet and that big box retailers are doomed to irrelevance. Storch says the successful brands will be those with a consumer-facing network across all channels, and says Toys "R" Us is leveraging its strengths, including its store base, to grow and thrive over the long term.

A glitch that sat between a Little Caesars franchisee's POS system and its payment processor, Fifth Third, caused one of its pizza shops to process zero payment card transactions for more than eight months. (A second store didn't process transactions for two months.) And then, to the non-delight of that store's customers, the glitch was fixed and they started getting collectively hit with thousands of charges for eight months of pizza purchases.

Sissy's Log Cabin, a jewelry retailer in Arkansas, has been employing an RFID-based solution for the past five years at its stores in Pine Bluff and Little Rock, in order to more accurately and quickly inventory the trays of watches, gems and fine jewelry that it displays and sells. Now, having opened a new store this year in Jonesboro, the company is preparing to expand the system, within the next 12 months, to include that location as well.

Why is it that the same retailers who will replace a finance clerk's desktop like clockwork every four years will let their POS linger for eight, nine, 10 or more years? Why is it that data centers can be consolidated and servers can be virtualized but e-commerce still operates as a separate channel? The answer is simple: politics.

So you're thinking of launching an e-commerce store, whether it's to turn a hobby into an additional income, to take your "bricks and mortar" business online, or perhaps you're ready to launch a new full-time venture in cyber space.

Renys, a regional chain of discount retail stores in Maine, has selected Junction Solutions to implement Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and help launch its multichannel retail strategy, while automating manual processes and improving visibility and collaboration throughout its store locations.

Checkpoint Systems Inc., a global supplier of electronic article surveillance solutions, merchandise visibility and apparel labeling solutions for the retail industry and its supply chain, has been chosen by Tesco to implement a global EAS program to improve on-shelf availability of products.

Shopping, even for major items like a wedding dress, is now something people do while strolling through the park - by smartphone or other device. In 2011, U.S. mobile commerce sales surged 91.4 percent. By 2015, analysts estimate total m-commerce sales will reach $31bn - a 363-percent increase from 2011.