Nuts & Bolts

C hances are, consumers who buy Gucci and Coach knockoffs, pirated CDs and DVDs and some very low-priced pharmaceutical products are contributing financial support for al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, street gangs MS-13 and MS-18 and drug lords from Central and South America, according to a new book that untangles the twisted money trail.

T hanks to the Internet, consumers can tackle many retail issues themselves, from researching products prior to purchase to digitally “trying on” cosmetics. Now some of the most nagging tasks associated with online shopping can be addressed, thanks to a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform.

W hen the economy started tanking, JoS. A. Bank was poised to gain market share.

The affordable men’s clothing store offered suits and apparel that appealed to well-established professionals and recent graduates seeking interview suits. And while competitors were pulling back on advertising, JoS. A. Bank was purchasing broadcast spots vacated by bankrupt companies.

Before long, the 106-year-old company with more than 500 stores became a hot buy on NASDAQ; it saw profits increase 19.3 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

I n December, London-based YES-wallet launched Pouch, a mobile and web-based digital wallet that will support near field communication (NFC) payments. With NFC, a customer retains payment card information on her smartphone that can be transmitted to make a payment when she holds her phone near a point of sale terminal that has been equipped with a special reader. The payment is then converted at a call center and routed through existing payment networks.