Order Fulfillment

Pop-up stores have gone wacky. Maybe it's the holiday hype. Maybe it's the improved economy. Or maybe it's a new recognition that many pop-ups — temporary stores open for just a few months — operate in the black.

Target Corp., the mass merchandiser with about 1,750 stores nationwide, for months has been shortchanging its customers who use certain manufacturers’ coupons by crediting them for a fraction of their face value.

The year’s most popular discount shopping event, referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving, is arriving ahead of Halloween this year, with some promotions beginning this week and others throughout November.

Coach shares reached their highest since 2007 on Tuesday after the luxury retailer trumped analyst expectations, posting 34 percent growth in quarterly earnings. The brand's Chief Executive Officer Lew Frankfort told CNBC that business improved across the board.

The inventory build that boosted the U.S. economy this year is slowing. Third-quarter earnings reports reflect rising uncertainty among manufacturers whether the inventory elastic stretched too far, and could snap back later this year or next.

Increased online sales, more temporary stores and guarded optimism about the season are leading some retailers to expand their workforces more than usual for the holidays.

Neiman Marcus may be known as a place for Texas-size yearnings and price tags, but in a sign of the economic times for luxury retailers, the company is being drawn to a less haughty shopper.

On Apple's earnings call, you probably didn't catch that Apple set a new retail foot traffic record last quarter, what with all the iPad supply fears and Steve Jobs ranting. But they did: more than 74.5 million people went to one of the 317 Apple stores across the world.

U.S. retail sales rose for a third consecutive month in September, posting a stronger-than-expected increase that should fend off fears of a double-dip recession but doesn't signal a strong recovery.

Best Buy makes holiday shopping even easier this year by offering one of the most comprehensive shipping programs in the retail landscape, Store Pickup Plus. The recently launched program serves as an evolution of traditional free shipping promotions, allowing customers to not only avoid shipping fees, but to receive their product more quickly, eliminate concerns about package delivery, increase confidence of product availability and save shopping time by processing payments online.