With excessive packaging as the top complaint of customers, Staples found a technology that created the right size box for every item shipped from its e-commerce centers. In doing so, it wins the annual Supply Chain Innovation Award, sponsored by SupplyChainBrain and CSCMP.

The customer expects shoe retailer DSW to be able to gather the shoes she wants, regardless of how she's shopping and regardless of where the shoe is located in the retailer's system. So it's good news that DSW reports it has made significant progress on its omnichannel initiative.

All hail the omni-channel. But how can logistics providers possibly keep pace with an explosion in the number of delivery points within a city that must be served?

Import volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to grow 1.8 percent in December over the same month last year, and the year should end with an increase of 2.3 percent over 2012, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.