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For retailers looking to provide an optimal customer experience to harried holiday shoppers, live chat is more than a nice extra.

“Customer expectations today make live chat a necessity; more and more customers are demanding this channel to interact with brands since it’s a convenient and efficient means of getting assistance online,” said Milton Pappas, president of e-commerce for White Plains, New York-based Nine West Group, which operates 183 Nine West stores, 78 Easy Spirit stores and 88 JNY stores in the United States.

Shortly before the 2013 holiday period, Nine West

Keurig Green Mountain has appointed José Octavio Reyes Lagunes, retired vice chairman of The Coca-Cola Export Corporation, to its board of directors.

Oak Brook, Ill. – As official NFL restaurant sponsor, McDonald's is launching the national McDonald's Tailgate Photo Sweepstakes. McDonald's customers can use QR codes on McDonald's medium beverages with NFL-themed packaging to access exclusive online NFL Now video content.

Customers can also use QR codes on McDonald's medium fries to access the McDonald's Pick The Play Sweepstakes and enter for the chance to win NFL-related prizes – including a trip for two to Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona.

While holiday forecasts are just starting to come out, most industry experts agree that retailers can expect mobile to command a bigger share of online shopping. Forrester projects $294 billion in e-commerce sales across 30 retail categories in 2014, with $87 billion of the total occurring on phones and tablets in 2014. A report by IBM forecasts that mobile will account for more than 20% of site sales and more than 43% of site traffic, by November 2014.

“Mobile should be a primary purchase channel within a few years,” said Bill Davis, director of MB&G Consulting.

Leading U.S. bookstore chain and online bookseller Books-A-Million has named James Phelps as VP of e-commerce.

“We are pleased to welcome James to Books-A-Million, and look forward to him bringing his expertise to our team as we continue to build our digital business,” said Cy Fenton, Books-A-Million’s CIO and president of Booksamillion.com.

Rockville, Md. - American prepaid card users are the leading users of mobile payments. According to Prepaid and Gift Cards in the U.S., 4th Edition, a recent report by market research publisher Packaged Facts, smartphone penetration is actually higher among groups underrepresented by traditional banking products and services.

Melville, N.Y. - Global Facility Management & Construction has named “J.A.C.K.: Join A Cause for Kids” as the first recipient of its “Global Gives Back” initiative, an annual charitable program designed to give back to the community. Sean and Lauryn Blank presented the donation to the charity’s founder in memory of his son, Jack Perlungher during Global’s recent 10-year anniversary summer event.