Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 3.6 percent this month over the same time last year as retailers begin to bring in merchandise for the holiday season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. Imports for the year are expected to be up 4.2 percent over 2014.

The grand golden doors of 500 Pearl Street, in Manhattan, have welcomed such glamorous names as Hermès, Tiffany & Co., and Kering, a French conglomerate whose treasures include Gucci and Bottega Veneta. The building is not a posh hotel or department store. It is the federal court for the Southern District of New York, a favored battleground for the decidedly unglamorous war against counterfeit goods.

Brick-and-mortar retailers - including supermarkets, discounters, drugstores and mass merchandisers - rely heavily on promotions, which typically account for 10 to 45 percent of their total revenues. Although promotions are a powerful instrument for increasing sales and margin, they are also difficult to use effectively.

Product returns are typically seen as a necessary headache and a cost drain. But companies can use their return policies to enhance customer loyalty and increase profits.

A recent favorable opinion by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy plus increased action in Congress have made it more likely than it has been in 50 years that out-of-state retailers will be forced to collect sales taxes in states where they don't have a physical presence. Half a century ago, of course, the volume generated by such sellers, who did their business via catalogs and snail mail, was tiny compared to the sales spawned by the rise of the internet.

Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of office supplies retail and wholesale giant Staples Inc., has relaunched StaplesAdvantage.com to make it more accessible and useful to large and mid-sized businesses.

With omnichannel, consumers and their mobile phones are doing pricing, web shopping and so forth. But what about manufacturers? They have omnichannels of their own, and suppliers to those retailers are an intrinsic part of retailers' strategies, yet the media is paying this scant attention.

Retailers require a comprehensive mobile strategy if they are to effectively engage shoppers and enhance the customer experience, a survey of nearly 7,000 Synchrony Bank cardholders and shoppers in March and April reveals.

Although the day is young and the hype is heavy, American consumers are not very enthusiastic about using digital wallets. High-powered marketers like Apple, Samsung, PayPal and Google are offering their own versions - and with the support of many banks - but only 2 percent of Americans actually use digital wallets.