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Like many obsessive collectors, Suzanne Nobles spends countless hours online scouring for treasures. The 25-year-old Arizona-based blogger isn't tracking down rare antiques or priceless baseball cards, though. No, she's on the lookout for lululemon products. One recent score — a pair of gray and split-pea green running shorts — cost her $95. While they initially retailed for $54, the shorts instantly sold out on lululemon's website and in stores, so paying nearly double was Nobles’ only shot at adding them to her collection.

Facebook's new payment service has several things going for it that might sound appealing to online sellers. First of all, it's free. Secondly, there's no risk of chargebacks since senders cannot use credit cards to fund payments. But hold your horses — this isn't a solution for e-commerce payment processing. Facebook launched a payments service on Tuesday designed not to pay for purchases, but rather to pay your friends. The person-to-person service works with Facebook Messenger, which is Facebook's answer to texting. 

Dollar General plans to spend more on labor this year. However, the company isn't planning to pay its workers more, following the likes of Wal-Mart and TJX Companies. Instead, it plans to offer workers at its 11,800 stores more hours. The market for quality customer service staff is getting competitive. Over the last year, retailers like Ikea, Gap and most recently Wal-Mart have increased wages in an effort to retain staff, improve customer service and cut down on training and recruiting. Dollar General hopes to entice good workers with a more full-time schedule, rather than higher wages.

Cosmetics retailer Mary Kay has filed a lawsuit in federal court against digital coupon giant RetailMeNot, claiming the company is soliciting coupons for the cosmetic company without its consent. Mary Kay says in the suit, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in Dallas, that it doesn't provide digital deals, offers and coupons for publication on RetailMeNot and hasn't authorized or permitted the site to list deals, sales or codes using its name or likeness. Mary Kay is seeking to bar RetailMeNot from using its name, slogans, website, etc., as well as damages and court fees.

Versa Capital Management LLC has won the auction for teen retailer the Wet Seal Inc., which is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Wet Seal and an affiliate of Versa have entered into an asset purchase agreement which will be presented to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware for approval at a hearing scheduled for March 18. Versa's winning bid includes replacement debtor-in-possession financing. Wet Seal had received $20 million debtor-in-possession financing from B. Riley Financial Inc., which allowed it to continue to operate its stores during the reorganization.

Ikea has stopped plans by thousands of people to play hide-and-seek in its maze-like stores in the Netherlands. After a spirited round of the children's game attracted hundreds of people to a Belgian Ikea outlet last summer, the world's biggest furniture retailer has forbidden similar events in several of its Dutch stores, citing safety reasons. The organizers of the games, who got word out over Facebook, are now looking for alternative locations.

The ongoing rise in searching and shopping from mobile devices has gained plenty of attention and has resulted in changes ranging to how stores display on small screens to various competing payment methods vying to be the choice of mobile shoppers. But the biggest name in search may be the most influential driver of change. Starting April 21, Google will give mobile-friendly sites a boost in search rankings.

Adidas has extended its supply chain processes and best practices into the marketing funnel. The company is using radio frequency identification technology to track its products from manufacturing facilities to store shelves, and near field communication technology from the shelf out the store door and to customers’ homes. The extended supply chain allows the sports brand to aggregate the data to achieve a more detailed picture of its customers.

Electronics retailer TigerDirect is closing all but three of its 34 stores in the U.S. and internationally. The Miami-based company will keep serving customers online but will close its brick-and-mortar locations. The only stores it's keeping open are its flagship store in Miami, one in its technology products distribution center in Georgia and one in Puerto Rico, which has a significant business-to-business operation in that market. The 31 other stores are expected to be shuttered by the end of June. Each store that's closing is eliminating about 40 jobs, according to TigerDirect.

Aeropostale says it's considering closing as many as 75 additional stores despite reporting a smaller profit loss in the fourth quarter. The company's net loss narrowed to $13.5 million in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, down from $70.3 million a year earlier. Net sales fell 11.3 percent to $593.8 million. Comparable sales declined 9 percent. Aeropostale closed more than 180 stores over the three months that ended Jan. 31. It currently has about 850 stores in North America and another 239 licensed Aeropostale stores worldwide.