The shift to online retailing over the last five years finally caught up to and overran U.S.-wide delivery capacity during last year's holiday season. According to Forrester Research, online retail sales will grow by an additional 60 percent over the next five years. This kind of sea change has stretched the ability of physical networks to keep up and the shortage of drivers had further exacerbated this situation. Instead, technology has become more important to meeting retailers' holiday delivery challenges by helping to improve the productivity of existing resources and offer a greater array of delivery services being demanded by consumers.

Macy's is putting its money where its mouth is, promising to invest up to $1bn in technology and infrastructure to support online and omnichannel efforts.

Macy's Inc. has reported a series of initiatives from 2002 through 2013 have resulted in a 38-percent reduction in the company's electricity usage and a 95-percent adoption rate of recycled or certified paper used in the company's marketing materials.

In almost every town in Mexico, you will find at least one garish La Michoacana ice-cream parlour, a Mexican business success story, possibly as well known as Dunkin' Donuts is in the United States. But it is not a corporation, nor a brand, nor a franchise. It is a confetti of independent, family-owned ice-cream parlours.