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If the ability to throw a 100-mile-per-hour fastball sits at one end of the human capital spectrum, stocking shelves and swiping barcodes is at the opposite. But the U.S. economy gets on quite nicely with just a few dozen ace pitchers, while it takes vast stadiums of cashiers — and no small amount of investment in human capital — to keep things humming. A modest bidding war has broken out among the retailers that hire from the bottom of the labor pool, buoyed in part by improving sales. 

Lowe's Companies, the world's second largest home improvement retailer, opened its global innovation center (GIC) in Bengaluru, India. The GIC will focus on next-generation customer experience by placing emphasis on technology and analytics to provide customers with a more personalized shopping experience. This center is also building a team to support Lowe's efforts to become an omnichannel home improvement company.

As Amazon.com struggles to expand in China, the U.S. online retailer has opened a flagship store in local competitor Alibaba Group Holding's online marketplace. Amazon's store inside Alibaba's Tmall, launched this week, so far offers a limited number of product categories, including imported food, women's shoes, toys and kitchen equipment. The food section, for example, includes Blue Diamond almonds and Californian wine, while the toy section carries international brands such as Lego and Crayola.

The 2015 annual report of the TJX Companies says it all. Net sales for the past fiscal year were $29.1 billion, which is greater than Macy's report of $28.1 billion. In the past year, sales increased 6.2 percent, reflecting customer demand for value fashion. Comparable sales increased 2 percent. It's significant that in the fourth quarter net earnings jumped 15 percent. Today, TJX Companies Inc. is the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the United States and worldwide.

When Sephora launched in the U.S. in 1998, it radically changed the cosmetics buying experience, replacing the controlled department store counter transaction with a hands-on, candy store-style field day for makeup lovers. In recent years, the brand has aggressively integrated digital and in-store retail, and yesterday opened its new Innovation Lab, a team and facility focused on "envisioning the future of retail for Sephora, and making sure that we're staying ahead of our clients and the different trends that are out there," says Bridget Dolan, vice president of Sephora's Innovation Lab.

Apple's new mobile payment system has been hit with a "wave of fraudulent transactions" using credit card data that have been stolen in recent breaches, according to The Wall Street Journal. The publication, citing sources familiar with the matter, noted that 80 percent of the unauthorized transactions have been for big-ticket items bought with smartphones at Apple stores. However, the sources added that Apple Pay's system itself hasn't been penetrated by hackers, rather fraudsters are entering stolen card data manually on their phones.

Sen. Bill Nelson on Wednesday called for a federal investigation of Lumber Liquidators amid allegations that it sold an imported laminate that could pose health risks. The Florida Democrat sent a letter to federal agencies asking them to independently test the company's flooring products. He also sought to discover whether the company made potentially false marketing claims about its product's compliance with safety standards.

Tiffany & Co. won a Dutch court ruling setting aside a decision by arbitrators who ordered the jewelry chain to pay Swatch Group AG more than 402 million Swiss francs ($419 million) in a dispute over a failed venture. A three-judge panel in Amsterdam ruled in Tiffany's favor Wednesday, the New York-based company said in a U.S. regulatory filing. Swatch and Tiffany became embroiled in a legal battle after the biggest maker of Swiss timepieces alleged the U.S. jeweler blocked development of a partnership to make and sell watches under the Tiffany brand and share the profits.

Online retailer Etsy, known for its handmade crafts, filed documents on Wednesday confirming plans by the Brooklyn-based company to go public. Etsy didn't say how many shares it intends to sell in the offering, but said it seeks to raise at least $100 million worth selling its stock, which will then trade under the ticker symbol "ETSY." The offering is being handled by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and boutique investment bank Allen & Company, according to Etsy's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Barneys New York is ready to give its big luxury brethren a run for their money in the e-commerce wars. The department store company knows luxury customers demand beautiful presentation and personalized service, and that that applies online as well as to its stores. With that in mind, Barneys relaunched its e-commerce sites last Friday, proclaiming them to be the first by a luxury retailer to use responsive design, which greatly enhances product presentation online and allows better personalization of content to an individual's tastes.