More than two-fifths (42 percent) of European adults have bought products directly from a manufacturer in the last 12 months, according to the JDA Manufacturing Pulse Report, which surveyed 6,146 adults online across the UK, Germany, France and Sweden.

Walmart is rolling out a program to send shoppers e-receipts via its mobile app, and while they're surely thrilled to save a few trees the real impetus is the wealth of customer data it can provide.

Infor, a vendor of multiple business applications, has formed a strategic partnership with Business + Decision, an international consulting and systems-integration firm.