The growth of e-commerce around peak shopping season is no longer a new story, and this year was no exception. But 2017’s peak season did raise some eyebrows for getting off to an unusually early start, with sales from Nov. 1 to Nov. 22 up 17.9 percent, year-over-year, according to Internet Retailer’s report on the peak shopping season.

The home-appliance giant needed a way to satisfy valued customers in its niche markets, even though they account for a relatively small percentage of sales.

Shanghai Yangshan Deep-Water Port's Phase IV container terminal started its trial operations last week. The 550-acre, $1.8bn facility is the latest expansion of the Port of Shanghai's complex on Yangshan Island, which has deeper water than the port operator’s mainland terminals.

China is churning out robots.

Logistics companies went on a hiring spree in November to handle the holiday surge in online shopping, adding thousands of jobs picking items off shelves in warehouses and delivering packages to customers’ homes.