Russia has become the it girl of e-commerce. Even amid a slowing economy, the country's online shopping increased 26 percent last year, to 510 billion rubles (about $14bn), according to Moscow's Data Insight, and could double by 2015. That has made the country an intriguing target for foreign players such as Amazon, eBay, Asos and China's Alibaba Group, while boosting the fortunes of such local companies as search engine Yandex and Amazon-like Ozon. Can foreign e-tailers make it there?

The Retail Industry Leaders Association has announced a partnership with the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA) to enhance cybersecurity information sharing and expand retailers' proactive and vigilant approach to cyber threats to protect consumers against criminals.

GS1 US has developed the GS1 US Data Hub. The new tool allows retailers, e-tailers, data pools, application developers and other providers to access detailed information associated with GS1 company prefixes.

U.S. retail and consumer (R&C) total transaction value for 2013 surpassed $100bn for the first time since 2008, according to PwC's US retail and consumer deals insights 2013 Year in Review and 2014 Outlook report. Deals in the food and beverage sector and private equity investment in the apparel, footwear and accessories sector continued to drive activity in the R&C industry.

There is no argument today about the impact that retail/apparel and footwear have had on the passive UHF market. Estimates vary on apparel's share, but it hovers around 70 percent to 80 percent of the total UHF market. And that includes only about 2 percent of the apparel items sold. In our recent research of RFID use among retailers, the retailers indicated an interest in expanding their use of RFID in apparel. And the tag industry that supports retailers is forecasting numbers between 23 percent to 35 percent growth in apparel use, as well. More retailers will be tagging more items in the next few years.

You've heard about business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) retailing. So what is CSC -- consumer-to-consumer -- all about? Terry Esper, associate professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management at the University of Arkansas, explains.

Import volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to drop 8.4 percent in February from the same time last year as the shipping cycle reaches its slowest month of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Recent security breaches lead the news and consumers are increasingly suspicious of possible credit card fraud. When it comes to data security, retailers run the gamut from perfect to poor.