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Off-price retailing owes a nod to the basement below Filene's, a Boston department store that figured out a way in the early 1900s to get rid of excess inventory at a discount in a stripped-down space below the fancy sales floors upstairs. In the first decade of the last century, few customers would have had cars to drive to an outlet mall in the middle of a corn field somewhere.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it had a range of measures to fight counterfeits on its websites — remarks that come after a trade group requested U.S. government help in prodding the Chinese e-commerce giant into action against fake goods.

Looks like Delia*s isn't dead after all. The (formerly) bankrupt retailer's homepage now features a "coming soon..." message complete with a #DeliasForever hashtag. A corresponding Delia*s Instagram post reads: "News flash! Delia*s will be coming back-to-school with you! Best part? Online only = ALWAYS OPEN!" Another post reveals that the shop will be back up and running online in August.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. was sued by a pension fund claiming the biggest U.S. pharmacy chain exaggerated the benefits of a 2014 merger with a European retailer that helped it build a global business. Those and other misstatements last year artificially pumped up the value of shares last year while concealing an earnings shortfall of $1.8 billion to $2.3 billion in fiscal 2016, according to a securities-fraud complaint filed April 10 by the Washtenaw County, Michigan, employees' pension plan.

On April 1, super-luxury brand Chanel announced that it would be opening an e-commerce store this fall. It wasn't an April Fool's joke, and legions of fashion-forward Frenchwomen would have been forgiven for gasping in shock, since it was only in 2013 that Chanel's global director of fashion Bruno Pavlovsky said that "fashion is about clothing, and clothing you need to see, to feel, to understand."

eBay appointed an executive from The Home Depot to lead its North American marketplace. Harry "Hal" Lawton was most recently Senior Vice President of Merchandising for the retailer.

Beware peddlers of lies. Amazon is officially cracking down on phony product reviews. The e-commerce juggernaut not only forbids them on its site, it contends that they're illegal, too. Case in point: The company filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in Seattle's King County Superior Court against four websites it alleges publish fraudulent reviews that distort its product ratings.

There is more wage growth coming.  In its earnings report filed on Wednesday, home retailer Bed Bath & Beyond signaled that it will be raising wages. The company gave little detail about when it would raise wages, or what the magnitude of the increase would be, saying only that in 2015 it expects earnings will be impacted by, "an increase in investments in compensation and benefits in 2015 beyond those historically planned."

Pier 1 Imports Inc. suffered a big decline in profit in the fourth quarter and announced that it plans to close 100 stores as part of a three-year plan to "reduce occupancy costs." Pier 1 reported net income of $33.1 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, down 22 percent from $42.6 million the same quarter a year earlier.  Expenses related to the retirement of the company's former CFO, as well as increased selling, general and

New York's attorney general is scrutinizing 13 big retailers over their staffing practices and whether they require workers to show up or stay home with little notice. The office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters warning Target Corp., Gap Inc. and 11 others that it believes the chains are using on-call scheduling and that such practices may violate a New York law