Retail sales of diamond jewelry grew last year and in the first half of 2015 by 4 percent to 8 percent with solid performance from the U.S. Meanwhile, the Chinese market continues to slow, due to stagnant GDP growth, which caused a ripple effect across the entire value chain. In 2015, diamond producers and mid-segment companies should anticipate a 10 percent to 20 percent decrease in revenue with diamond jewelry sales to remain near flat.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to be essentially unchanged from last year this month as stores bring in the last round of merchandise for the holiday season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Now that retailers have put their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales behind them, many are gearing up for another potential holiday season gauntlet: A possible crush of procrastinators hitting their stores and websites at the last minute.

The last decade has seen many technological advancements in known payment environments. The introduction of point-of-sale systems has changed payment experiences by replacing cash registers in many scenarios. Credit cards have become a preferred mode of payment and more merchants are working toward accepting them.

7-Eleven is finding a new way to serve late-night munchies to the college crowd by partnering with Tapingo to deliver to college campuses.

Mobile has firmly won the battle of devices this holiday season at Walmart, where mobile made up more than 70 percent of traffic to the retailer's website since Thanksgiving.

More than two-fifths (42 percent) of European adults have bought products directly from a manufacturer in the last 12 months, according to the JDA Manufacturing Pulse Report, which surveyed 6,146 adults online across the UK, Germany, France and Sweden.