Bad bots, which account for roughly 20 percent of all internet traffic, are capable of dozens of unique automated threats; any website with gift card processing capabilities is a potential target. Analysts at Distil Networks recorded 4 million bad bot requests per hour on one website, says Distil’s CEO Rami Essaid, nearly 10 times its normal traffic.

With an on-demand model that gives eShakti the flexibility to offer new designs quickly and economically, the company’s founder and CEO says eShakti’s return rates are drastically lower than the industry standard: less than 9 percent, compared with 12-25 percent for most online retailers.

Looking to tap into the passion behind the flourishing craft beer industry, Growler USA serves more than 100 American-brewed beers, hard cider, draught wine and non-alcoholic beverages like kombucha. Customers drive craft beer trends, says founder and CEO Dan White. “We strive to stay on top of that by listening both to our customers and our brewery partners.”

Peace doves, Barack Obama and Boston Strong: Custom apparel company Spreadshirt’s list of top-selling T-shirts from the past 15 years highlights important events in history, trending topics and noteworthy people.

London-based “motor diner” Ace Cafe’s newest location in Orlando is expected to draw more than 400,000 visitors each year. The 35,000-square-foot location covers two floors and includes two kitchens, four bars, a full-service restaurant and various shops.

The digital edition of STORES includes must-read pieces, including the articles featured here. Read the current issue and browse the archives for issues you may have missed.

NRF 2018: Retail’s Big Show will be back in New York City, January 14-16, 2018. The annual event gathers nearly 35,000 industry professionals for a look at the latest retail tech and insights into how retailers are transforming themselves in the digital age. Register by this tomorrow, August 25, to get a discounted rate.

Hiring decisions are some of the most important for a business in the growth stage, and &pizza’s director of human resources has the scoop on the inner workings of talent acquisition. This week on Retail Gets Real, Chloe Rosenthal shares how the popular D.C. pizza chain finds “great fits” for the company’s innovative culture, and how it plays into long-term strategy.

NRF’s research team has reviewed the game tape from the 2016 holiday season, surveying over 2,000 consumers to understand how they plan and shop for the holidays and what retailers can learn from the findings. From the new data comes the 2017 Holiday Planning Playbook, a guide that retailers can use as a tool to prepare for the most important few months of the year.

First Insight Inc., a technology company transforming how retailers make product investment and pricing decisions, announced that BJ’s Wholesale Club, an operator of membership warehouse clubs in the U.S., will begin using First Insight’s consumer-driven predictive analytics. The tools will help BJ’s make design and buying decisions on the broad spectrum of products offered in its warehouse clubs.

Revel Systems, a feature-rich business platform integrating operations and customer channels driven by the point of sale into a single dashboard, announced a partnership with DSYNC. The DSYNC platform connects on-premises and cloud applications together in near real time.

Aptaris, an enterprise marketing and promotions management technology innovator, and customer data science company dunnhumby signed a multi-year agreement with Mitchell Grocery Corporation to provide their integrated enterprise marketing and promotions management, forecasting and pricing optimization platform.

Shopkick, a shopping rewards app, announced a new partnership with Shoe Carnival Inc., a retailer of moderately priced footwear and accessories.

Shufersal, Israel’s largest supermarket chain, has selected Verifone for a full-scale payment-as-a-service relationship. They will be the first merchant in the country to implement Verifone’s suite of commerce-enabled payment solutions that include a complete upgrade to local EMV requirements, access to third-party apps in the Merchant Marketplace and state-of-the-art gateway services for an omnichannel view of consumer transactions both online and in-store.

RangeMe, the online platform that streamlines new product discovery between product suppliers and retailers, will work with Rite Aid in a major initiative to scale product innovation efforts and give Rite Aid’s category buying teams the access to efficiently source trending consumer-ready products.