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Part two of this series examines what impact social media will have on retail going forward. In particular, opportunities to bridge online and offline customer experiences in order to seamlessly integrate multiple touchpoints and selling channels are identified.

By using targeted merchandising, online retailers can dramatically increase the likelihood of increasing sales, all while pleasing their customers with products that have been preselected just for them.

Two key trends have dominated the retail sector this year: the robust growth of online shopping and the shift to cash payments from credit.

The two may seem in opposition as online shoppers often use credit to pay for their purchases, but more often online retailers are trying to woo the cash-only customer by providing alternative payment methods.

This Halloween is the third in a row for which marketers and retailers are playing up discounts, deals and bargains rather than goblins, ghosts and vampires.

Traffic is like oxygen for a website: it can't "live" if it doesn't get it, no matter how cool its features and graphics are. The simple truth is that you need visitors to get sales. Want to increase your sales by 20 percent this holiday season? You need 20 percent more web traffic to do so.

For nearly two years, Amazon has been trying to get manufacturers to adopt “frustration-free packaging” that gets rid of plastic cases and air-bubble wrap — major irritants for consumers and one of Amazon’s biggest sources of customer complaints.

Among uneven retail numbers this year exists a bright spot that has been growing for years, and is leading companies to overhaul their traditional business models: the online retail market.

If you're a large retailer that has either yet to consider eBay or historically avoided it due to its challenges, think again. With eBay's shift toward fixed-price listings — helping it to bring more well-known brands to the site — it's time to re-evaluate and take advantage of the opportunities to further diversify your business, get your products in front of eBay's 90 million shoppers and increase revenue.

Sure, you're entrenched in the holiday season by now, making sure your website is up to date with the most current inventory and that every one of your customers is happy and well served. But that doesn't mean it's time to rest on your laurels. In fact, the holiday season is a great time to test new web attributes and programs that may improve your shoppers' experiences, and ultimately bring you more sales.