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For all the talk about showrooming and Jeff Bezos mercilessly pursuing world domination, e-commerce remains a fraction of the size of the good ole' brick-and-mortar industry. But times are changing. Physical retail in the U.S. deals in trillions of dollars, while e-commerce dabbles in mere hundreds of billions. Americans are expected to spend $304.1 billion and $4.1 trillion on e-commerce and physical retail, respectively, in 2014. By 2017, those figures are expected to increase to $440.4 billion and nearly $4.9 trillion, according to eMarketer.

Amazon.com hopes the workers in its scores of fulfillment centers across the country are happy in their jobs. But if they're not and would rather be doing something else, Amazon has a deal: The company will pay them a bonus — up to $5,000 — to leave. In a program that Amazon aptly calls Pay to Quit, those who aren't committed to their jobs are urged to leave on their own and can get $2,000 in severance pay in the first year of employment with the bonus topping out at $5,000 in the fourth year.

With energy being one of REI's largest impacts on the climate, the company has committed to having all of its electricity come from clean renewable sources. With 26 solar electric systems generating energy and a strong program to invest in energy efficiency, REI now buys certified renewable energy certificates (RECs) as part of its strategy to procure energy from green sources, which now power all of its 130 stores, two distribution centers and company headquarters. Prior to the REC purchase, REI was listed on U.S. EPA Green Power Partnership's "Top 30 Retail," representing the country's largest green power retail users. 

After last year's massive security breaches at Target and Neiman Marcus Group, data-security professionals urged U.S. retailers to upgrade their credit and debit card technology to reduce fraud. Companies have been slow to embrace the more secure payment systems that have been widely used in Europe and Asia for years, mostly because of the expense and a lack of synchronization among retailers, credit card providers and banks.

Patrick Byrne has relinquished his role as chairman of Overstock.com and Stormy Simon was named president of the online discount retailer. Byrne will continue to serve as CEO while current executive vice chairman Jonathan Johnson assumes the chairman responsibilities Byrne has held since 2006. Johnson's prior responsibilities as corporate secretary will be assumed by Mark Griffin, who serves as senior vice president and general counsel. Simon, who previously served as co-president of the company, was named president and retains her seat on the board, while David Nielsen will continue in his role as co-president.

eBay, Etsy, PayPal and others had advice for online merchants who are worried about the Heartbleed bug. A bug in a system used by many e-commerce sites that was supposed to encrypt data such as passwords and credit card numbers means sites were vulnerable for the past two years, and by all accounts, it's a disaster of massive proportions. Small sellers shouldn't assume the problem will go away by itself, according to one vendor. Z-Firm's Rafael Zimberoff said it's urgent that every e-commerce seller who has an open source or PHP-based system on their website take action immediately.

When Eric Ryan helped start Method Products in 2001, the market for environmentally friendly soaps and cleaning products, he recalled, was a "niche of a niche of a niche." No longer. Target, one of the country's largest retailers, announced on Tuesday that it would expand its inventory of "natural, organic and sustainable" goods to meet growing customer demand. The company said it would introduce more than 120 new products over the next several months, and unveiled a new umbrella category for these items: "Made to Matter — Handpicked by Target."

HSN has announced a multifilm marketing collaboration with Disney Studios for three upcoming movies: "Maleficent," "Cinderella" and "The Hundred-Foot Journey." According to the companies, this collaboration marks the first time that Disney Studios has enlisted an omnichannel retailer for a comprehensive marketing alliance. HSN said that in advance of the release of each film, it will create content-driven retail events across all of its platforms: TV, online, social and mobile. The shopping experiences will feature exclusive, curated assortments of products from HSN fashion, jewelry, beauty and home categories that are inspired by or reminiscent of each of the three films.

Retail entrepreneur Brett Markinson, the founder of Sole Society and HauteLook, has launched a new venture that he thinks will revolutionize the way shoppers find deals. It's called Savoir Mode and it collects and offers up discounts on current-season apparel. The site, which launched last week, is a bit novel in its approach. While flash sales contain discounted merchandise from previous seasons, Savoir Mode uses a special algorithm to pull items that have been recently marked down from hundreds of retailers.

Family Dollar said Thursday that it will close hundreds of stores and trim its workforce to cut costs after profits fell sharply in its most recent quarter. The company has struggled to keep up with its rivals in recent quarters. Thursday's poor financial results could revive speculation that Family Dollar might be a takeover target for a larger retailer. "Our second-quarter results didn't meet our expectations," said chief executive Howard Levine. "We're taking a number of important steps through our immediate strategic actions to improve our operational efficiency and deliver better financial returns."