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.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. lost a bid to dismiss an 11-year-old gender discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of workers in California after the U.S. Supreme Court barred a lawsuit representing Wal-Mart employees nationwide.

Aging infrastructure for marine ports, inland waterways and airports threatens more than a million U.S. jobs according to a new Failure to Act report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

A slew of luxury goods retailers are leaving Argentina in response to import barriers, currency controls and soaring inflation. American designer Ralph Lauren was the most recent departure when it announced last month that it was closing three of its stores in Buenos Aires, including its flagship in the upscale Recoleta district, as draconian measures on imports have all but left it unable to stock its shelves.

Despite pending regulations, most shipowners have refused to commit to an onboard ballast water treatment system. Yet port-based treatment has the potential to be a temporary or even permanent solution.

Mazda Motor Logistics Europe N.V., the Belgian-based operation of Mazda Motors, is using Descartes' cloud-based customs solution to automate declaration filings in Belgium.

The days of most tax-free internet shopping in California are over. After years of controversy, the world's largest online retailer, Amazon.com Inc., has begun collecting state and local sales taxes on California purchases. Depending on where you live, sales taxes in the state range from 7.25 percent to 9.75 percent.

Advocates for a level playing field between traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and their online-only competitors are celebrating the implementation of "sales tax fairness" in California. Last week, online-only retailers, such as Amazon.com, began collecting state sales tax in California.

As retail supply chains grow increasingly larger geographical footprints, they become more susceptible to risk. Retailers have long prepared for natural disasters and geopolitical events, but ongoing financial crises and uncertainty has them even more concerned.