Target

If your company's brick-and-mortar budget is a source of frustration, it's probably because there are several items devouring resources without moving your bottom line. Focusing more of your precious resources on these five areas will help sales by keeping you relevant and desirable:

Apple Pay made its much awaited debut in October 2014, and as with everything Apple does, the conversation on alternative payment mechanisms has gained center stage. Is there even any credence to all the clamor about new payment mechanisms? What happened to good ole' cash, checks and credit cards?

Target has agreed to pay $10 million in a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit related to its 2013 data breach that consumers say compromised their personal financial information, court documents show. Under the proposal, which requires federal court approval, Target will deposit the settlement amount into an interest-bearing escrow account, to pay individual victims up to $10,000 in damages. The proposal also requires Target to adopt and implement data security measures such as appointing a chief information security officer and maintaining a written information security program.

The Honest Company’s Jessica Alba and CEO Brian Lee offered an open, honest and frank assessment about their eco-friendly e-commerce st

With shallow pockets but a deep commitment to promote "living wages," women's advocacy group UltraViolet has peppered Target with cheap location-focused online ads, challenging it to match Wal-Mart's promise of $10-an-hour base pay. The nonprofit advocacy group launched its campaign on Tuesday. With a budget of just $5,000, it purchased online ads that appear on the browsers of people surfing the web within an approximately 1,000-feet radius of three stores in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Nebraska.

Target cut 1,700 people at its corporate offices in the Twin Cities on Tuesday, the largest downsizing of its headquarters staff ever. The retailer's top managers had set the company's employees on edge a week before by announcing plans to cut "several thousand" corporate jobs. On Tuesday, they lost no time in implementing their plan, with workers cut loose en masse.

Now that customer expectations have evolved, brands have to seamlessly connect everything from the first marketing touchpoint through the final sale. Here are three pillars of the modern commerce experience that build loyalty and drive greater lifetime value:

To win, retailers have to accept that the online channel has transformed offline retail. By collecting valuable data from customers across multiple channels, retailers are given numerous opportunities to drive purchasing decisions wherever the customer prefers shopping. To obtain and use big data, retailers need to do the following:

Target plans to invest billions of dollars this year streamlining operations, opening more small stores and creating a product mix designed to appeal to a younger, broader consumer demographic. The retailer will also cut several thousand jobs in the next two years as part of a cost-savings plan, Target managers said at a meeting Tuesday with financial analysts and investors. The company didn't say how many of its employees will be cut, although most are expected to be at the company's Minneapolis base, where it employs 13,000.

Retail Online Integration's fifth annual list of the leading women executives in omnichannel retail features some of the brightest minds in the industry. This year's nominees were chosen for being in a top-level position within an omnichannel retail organization, along with several other criteria, including their scope of responsibility, achievements within their own companies, and their involvement within the retail industry. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn about the career paths of some of today's leading retail experts, as well as find out what they believe will be the top tip for omnichannel retail success in 2015.