While cash remains king at the point-of-sale, a variety of other digital payment methods are preferred by consumers, with 25 percent of all smartphone owners now using mobile wallets.

E-commerce retailers are starting to add smaller, urban warehouses to their supply chains as the pace of online shopping and delivery transforms distribution demands.

Retailers require a comprehensive mobile strategy if they are to effectively engage shoppers and enhance the customer experience, a survey of nearly 7,000 Synchrony Bank cardholders and shoppers in March and April reveals.

House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz has introduced the Remote Transaction Parity Act (RTPA), legislation that would require all retailers that sell products in their state, even those who sell exclusively online, to collect the same sales tax.

Ripples of anxiety are likely to be coursing through internet retailers this month. That's because two events - the introduction of the Marketplace Fairness Act in the U.S. Senate and an opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy - made it more likely than it has been in 50 years that they will have to collect taxes in states where they don't have a physical presence. If that happens, out-of-state retailers would be compelled to collect sales and use taxes in almost 10,000 state tax jurisdictions that, according to the Tax Foundation, exist across the United States.

Chris and Tope Folayan, two brothers who grew up in Nigeria and attended college in the United States, founded MallforAfrica in 2013. Tope earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. After graduating, he returned to Lagos, while Chris remained in the United States. Their company makes it easier for Nigerians to place online orders for American and British products that are difficult to find in Nigerian stores and that online retailers don't offer directly to most African consumers because of troublesome customs duties and paperwork, shipping costs and the fear of fraud.