Amazon cleared $25.6bn in the fourth quarter of 2013. A lot of Christmas wishes were no doubt fulfilled, but that holiday season is likely going to be remembered more for the packages that didn’t ship on time.

Through its partnership with eBay Enterprise, Ace Hardware's omnichannel initiative now offers in-store pickup in many of its locations, and is moving toward making the service available in at least 1000 stores.

Automation may be the single most important issue for distributors across the country as they tackle the escalating costs associated with multichannel distribution.

Organic foods have long carried a price premium along with a certain snob appeal or caricature, depending on your view: Fancy eats for affluent folks, not the hungry and thrifty masses. So much for that stereotype. Organic products sold under Kroger’s store brand are about to top $1bn in annual sales.

The trends favor a centralized inventory under one roof, but the question whether it is the most effective response to the challenges of multichannel distribution persists.

Retailers concerned by the lack of a West Coast longshoremen's contract will continue to bring merchandise into the country at above-average levels this month, but volume will drop from the record set in August, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.