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Plus-size retailer Charming Shoppes said it's expanded its online reach globally, allowing worldwide online access to fashion brands Lane Bryant, Cacique, Catherines, Fashion Bug and Loop 18, as well as the more than 300 brands offered at the company's new plus-size shopping hub, Sonsi.com.

Michaels has launched MiDesign@Michaels, an online-based application that allows customers to create photo books, scrapbook pages, greeting cards and custom invitations.

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 2.6 percent in October over the same month last year and should reach its highest level of the year as retailers stock up for the holiday season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Today in the online commerce world, return levels are quite high in some industries like fashion and retail. Levels in some countries in Europe are up to 60 percent. This means a lot of double transportation of goods from a warehouse and, depending of how complex the supply chain are for a particular retailer, back to the warehouse for examination and re-pack for a new customer if the goods is ok.

The Department of Transportation fined online travel company Orbitz $60,000 on Oct. 18 for misleading advertisements that failed to mention taxes and fees, and in some cases promoted fares which were no longer available.

Salt Lake City -- Needle announced that Urban Outfitters will use Needle’s Guided Shopping Platform to serve its customers with a personalized online shopping experience. The platform provides a rich chat toolset for agents to assist online shoppers to make a purchase decision including the ability to interactively demonstrate features of products, cross-sell and up-sell with an outfit builder and cart builder, and create social coupons to share with friends via Facebook. “We chose Needle over other providers because their platform provides tools for a creative, high-touch collaboration between fashion experts and with our customer online,” said Holly Devine,

On Oct. 13, Business Insider published a study that showed how Groupon and LivingSocial inflate regular prices to make deals look better. After reading the story, a former sales rep got in touch with some more details. The employee, who started and built a market in a major Southern city for LivingSocial, says some sales reps "absolutely" increase prices.

Seattle -- AccessVia announces that Modell's Sporting Goods deployed AccessVia Web dSignShop Software as a Service (SaaS) for the retailer’s in-store signage publishing system. Implementation was complete in only six weeks. "It's the best decision we've made in a long time,” said Mitch Modell, CEO, Modell’s Sporting Goods. “We've had nothing but great reactions and store feedback. It's been phenomenal." The AccessVia scalable enterprise cloud platform and Web dSignShop SaaS application is designed for retailers who want to outsource implementation, maintenance and support activities. Using data from a central source, Web dSignShop SaaS delivers print and digital promotions to

E-commerce shipping is an increasingly busy two-way street. In addition to its delivery strengths, the U.S. Postal Service is making sure it's the preferred shipper for packages traveling the returns lane as well.

_ NAPERVILLE, Ill., Oct. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- OfficeMax(R) Incorporated "We are delighted to welcome Jim to the Board of OfficeMax," said Rakesh Gangwal, Chairman of OfficeMax. "He brings significant expertise, insight and years of experience as a successful business leader, and we will benefit from having his perspective on the board." Mr. Marino, 61, recently retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of Alberto-Culver Company, a personal care products company, roles he had held since November 2006. Mr. Marino previously served as President of Alberto Culver Consumer Products Worldwide from 2004 to November 2006 and as President of