Target

Cyber Monday is the event of the season for e-commerce brands. Coming off of the Black Friday rush, IBM's Smarter Commerce division reported that 2012 Cyber Monday was the largest online shopping day in history. With sales steadily increasing, the National Retail Federation has cited potential for this season, forecasting higher than the 10-year average holiday sales. Retailers should have their own checklist: All that's needed to meet the festive customer demand. Below find five tips to mastering the impending Cyber Monday chaos:

The holiday shopping pandemonium has commenced. With the holiday shopping season six days shorter this year than last year, retailers have made the decision to open on Thanksgiving night and provide early Black Friday shopping. Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target and others are trying to make the most of the holiday season. However, The Huffington Post Reports…

The discount chain's latest online offerings have a distinct Amazon.com feel, from recurring deliveries for diapers to on-demand streaming video to free shipping and discounts for its members. All emulate similar offers from Amazon. Target's headquarters is also taking on some perks more typical of West Coast technology companies than a Midwestern retailer. That includes vintage arcade games, a boccie ball sand pit and a red basketball court stamped with the retailer's bull's-eye logo in the new common area. And next year, the company plans to spend more on technology than it does on building and upgrading its stores.

Chances are you're spending a lot of time, money and effort driving traffic to your online store. More and more, online retailers are realizing that the way to stand out from the crowd, and increase the return on investment of their reach and acquisition initiatives, is to optimize their site so that they're giving visitors exactly the experience they're looking for.

Target plans to stop asking prospective employees about their criminal records in initial job applications at all of its U.S. stores, a company spokesperson confirmed to The Huffington Post this week. The Minneapolis-based company had been facing pressure to do so from grassroots advocacy group TakeAction Minnesota. Target nevertheless reserved the right to ask about criminal backgrounds after the completion of an applicant's first interview.

Always-connected, digital omnivores present brands with the opportunity to build richer and stronger relationships with customers, but competition for their attention is fierce. In order to connect with digital omnivores and meet their expectations, retailers must provide consistent, tailored and content-rich experiences as consumers jump between tablets, phones and desktops. Here are five simple tips to help retailers engage digital omnivores across any online touchpoint:  

Many people have engaged in the online shopping vs. brick-and-mortar shopping debate. The topic might come up while waiting in a line at the mall or while spending hours looking online for a hard-to-find item. Both brick-and-mortar stores and online merchants have certain pros and cons that differ based upon the types of products offered and the specific needs of the individual shopper.

Amazon.com has raised its free shipping minimum order to $35. The change came after a decade of free shipping to U.S. addresses on a minimum order of $25 on Amazon's site. It took effect Tuesday, just ahead of the holiday shopping season, according to Amazon Spokeswoman Julie Law. Amazon now finds itself in the mid-range of major retailers that offer free shipping on online orders. Wal-Mart and Target offer free shipping on many purchases of over $50, while Best Buy's minimum order is $25. Earlier this year, Amazon warned that its shipping costs were going to increase during the holiday season.

Retailers continue to make changes to their stores based on the notion that, like Apple's sleek and busy retail locations, if they can just get customers to futz around with products in the store long enough, they'll eventually buy something right then and there, rather than buying it cheaper online. Target is the latest to give this idea a shot in its electronics department. The Minnesota-based retail chain is testing a minimalist redesign emphasizing interaction with products at a number of its stores, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Target has unveiled its new sustainable product standard, which was developed over the last two years in partnership with industry experts, vendors and NGOs. The new standard is intended to help establish a common language, definition and process for qualifying what makes a product more sustainable. "We know that sometimes it's challenging to pick the sustainable, good-for-you products you're looking for. That's why Target is taking an important step toward greater transparency, which we hope will lead to more sustainable and innovative products," the company said in a statement on its website.