While pop-up retail is not new - dating back to California-based Vacant in 1999 - the concept of pop-up distribution centers is a fairly new one. Following the same idea, it involves setting up a temporary distribution center in a specific location for a set period of time to meet a temporary need, then shutting it down.

As retailers look ahead to the holiday selling season, e-commerce platform provider Volusion predicts that online sales during the holiday season will grow 9 percent compared to last year for small- to medium-sized businesses.

For growing ecommerce companies, timeliness is next to godliness. According to the 2014 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper survey, half of consumers have abandoned carts due to a lengthy delivery time or no delivery date provided on a retailer's website.

Office Depot Inc. will close at least 400 stores by the end of 2016, according to chairman and CEO Roland Smith.

Digital interactions influence 36 cents of every dollar spent in the retail store, or approximately $1.1tr, according to the latest study from Deloitte Digital. By the end of 2014, that number will climb to 50 percent, or $1.5tr of total store sales.

The United States Postal Service expects to see real-time tracking in all 67 of its districts by the end of 2013.

The National Retail Federation estimates that nearly $9bn was lost by merchants in returns fraud in 2012. And according to a report from ThreatMetrix, online fraud resulted in about $3.5bn in lost revenue in North America last year.

E-commerce sales in B2C soared to new heights in 2012. According to eMarketer.com, e-commerce sales topped $1tr for the first time. The B2C sales grew from 21.1 percent last year to $1tr. This year, sales are expected to grow from 18.3 percent to $1.2tr worldwide. According to eMarketer, it is estimated that Asia-Pacific has surpassed North America to become the No. 1 market for B2C e-commerce sales.

In marketing, emphasis is often placed on the initial efforts to get a customer interested in a product or service. This is a natural part of the sales cycle, of course, but it tends to overshadow the very important aspect of repeat business and the contribution it makes to overall success.