No ecommerce site is perfect, especially when it first goes live.

So-called "adversarial procurement" practices among large retailers are a threat to the "integrity of the food industry", according to a major report into the horse meat scandal in Europe.

Property developer Wanda Group and Internet giants Baidu and Tencent have unveiled an e-commerce venture in a challenge to industry leader Alibaba Group ahead of its U.S. stock offering.

Staples says it is enhancing its omnichannel experience, including the ability to buy products online and pick them up in-store within hours, an easier way to pay online called Visa Checkout, new in-store kiosks and, for the first-time ever, an iPad app.

Big-box electronics giant Best Buy reported sagging second-quarter sales Tuesday amid increasingly intense competition from rival retailers. The company's comparable sales dipped 2 percent in the U.S., though it still managed to post $146m in profit, largely thanks to a long-term cost-cutting program. But with few new electronics products to capture consumers' attention, the rest of 2014 isn't looking any sunnier.

A high degree of product diversity has become the norm across all industries in recent years as manufacturers have expanded their product portfolios to capture new revenue sources. The product variations can be staggering to consider. So can the complexity that results.