Because beauty retailer Sephora views mobile as a key part of a customer journey, the company says it's doing everything to allow customers to discover, play and learn both online and in store.

Google has launched its Purchases on Google program, allowing merchants that sell on Google to have a call to action in the search engine results page. At the moment it's a mobile-only feature of product listing ads (PLAs) that allows shoppers to buy on Google from participating merchants.

As its Jet.com acquisition continues to pay out, Wal-Mart is seeing hyper growth in e-commerce, with U.S. online sales up 63 percent in the first quarter. On the physical side of things, Wal-Mart's store traffic and same-store sales were both up in an extremely challenging retail environment, rising 1.5 and 1.4 percent respectively.

In a move designed to capture network costs associated with retailers who fail to meet peak volume commitments, UPS is looking to charge them for shortfalls this year, CEO David Abney told the Wall Street Journal.

Nearly half of merchants selling goods on Amazon.com said in a recent survey that the marketplace makes up 80 percent or more of their sales, while home and kitchen goods was the most popular category, reported by 18 percent of respondents.

Meeting the increasingly high demands of e-commerce customers and helping shippers drive efficiency in their fulfillment operations were two of the main themes as UPS and Sealed Air jointly unveiled their packaging innovation center.

In line with the hyper growth of e-commerce activity there, Amazon is expanding its operations in India by adding seven new fulfillment centers. MoneyControl.com reported that Amazon India plans to invest $5bn in its facilities by the end of June.

The National Retail Federation recently welcomed renewed efforts in Congress to require online sellers to collect sales tax the same as local stores.

UPS is installing electronic beacons in its package cars to notify workers if they have placed an item in the wrong delivery vehicle. The initiative, known as Preload Smart Scan, is part of a suite of UPS projects that will use technology to error-proof package processing operations to ensure timely delivery and customer satisfaction.