Analyst Insight: Consumer products companies are making far greater use of alternative sales channels than ever before. They are proactively reaching out to customers, whether in B2B or B2C environments, to gain share of mind and increase sales. Consumer products companies have also become much more active using their own websites and utilizing marketplaces as a means to increase their product's visibility and availability to potential customers. – Bruce Tompkins, Executive Director, Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium

An estimated 67 percent of a recent survey's respondents under the age of 50 are interested in using mobile technology for as many purchases as possible. Moreover, 46 percent under 50 would like personalized offers sent to their smartphones while shopping in-store.

Long a laggard in online sales, the Swedish retailer Ikea, which is privately held, has finally recognized the need for a more robust e-commerce presence.

Macy's Inc. plans to relocate its West Sacramento, Calif., direct-to-consumer fulfillment center to a larger facility in a nearby location to support continued sales growth driven by its omnichannel strategy.

There's a wake-up call for American digital marketers who aren't actively developing their international online markets. While there are many risks to taking your business online to other nations, the risk of not going global, or of waiting too long to make the move, almost certainly will be greater.

Price optimization is the next frontier on the retail battle lines, with Walmart and Amazon waging a fierce battle to best each other on price. It's a fight that Amazon is winning thanks to its pricing strategy, according to the Price Perception Index (PPI) for digital retail.