James Crawford, executive director of the Global Retail Executive Council, talked to DMNews about two potential expansion areas: mobile and social shopping.

Deb Shops, an 80-year-old retailer of junior and plus-sized merchandise for 13- to 25-year-old women, had no online presence a year ago.

Retailers train their focus online in a tough market by investing in customer experience initiatives.

Gaiam's Marshall on how technology and word-of-mouth combine to drive sales and retain customers

Health and wellness boutiques find demonstrating expertise while building customer relationships help drive e-commerce success

Organic's group creative director Sacha Reeb discusses recent campaigns from Rail Europe, LL Bean and Sprinkler Warehouse

Many multichannel merchants are compelled to cut catalog circulation because of the current economic picture. Some retailers, however, are doing so in the name of "mailing smarter." The goal is for sales to drop at only a fraction of circulation cuts. Multichannel merchants such as Williams-Sonoma and J. Crew reported double-digit reductions to circulations in the first half of this year simultaneous with better-than-expected profits. However, one retailer, Chico's, has expressed remorse recently over making cuts it later realized may have been too dramatic. Here, Kevin Hillstrom, president of MineThatData; Rod Ford, CEO of CognitiveData; and Holly Wasas, account manager for brokerage at Direct Media Millard, weigh in on how to cut back wisely.

Diego Saenz, president of PetPlace.com, discusses the launch of the content site's e-commerce venture, PetProductAdvisor.com

See what Nicholas Plat, ECD at Rapp, thinks of TW Telecom's integrated IT software campaign, Bibby Financial Services' Facebook campaign, and Mansato's "Cotton Community" social network

With a difficult economy, retailers must 
do more with less. Mobile commerce is gaining attention, but the challenges are significant. So retailers want to know: "Are consumers ready for mobile commerce; and if so, where should we begin?"