Target's supply chain woes are coming to a boil. Out-of-stocks and sometimes entirely empty shelves have become all too common, and have come to the attention of the national media.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 1.2 percent this month over the same time last year as retailers head toward the holiday season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Retailers should be bracing themselves for heightened delivery expectations of so-called Generation Z, those individuals born after the late 1990s, whose media-saturated world has accustomed to them to instant access to things.

European adults have experienced a high number of problems with online orders in the last 12 months, according to data from the JDA/Centiro Customer Pulse Report.

Google Inc. will start testing a delivery service for fresh food and groceries in two U.S. cities later this year, stepping up competition with online retailer Amazon.com Inc. and start-up Instacart Inc.

A.T. Kearney's 2015 African Retail Development Index (ARDI) reconfirms the potential of many nations throughout Africa.

RangeMe, an online platform serving the consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector, has launched operations in the U.S.

For consumers, in-store pickup combines the ease of shopping online with the promptness of purchasing from a local retailer. But while it's been revealed that this method isn't any more efficient than just buying in-store, that hasn't stopped brick-and-mortar shops from adopting and promoting this service - nor has it dissuaded customers from using it.

Innovative online retail companies are learning how to compete with well-established companies by creatively managing their supply chain. By combining best practices and technological advancements, these companies are disrupting their competitors while maintaining lean inventories and cutting out the middleman to deliver lower prices to consumers.