For the first time, holiday retail sales will cross the $1 trillion mark. Up 5.8% from the year prior, the 2018 season will benefit from near record-high consumer confidence, strong ecommerce sales and over 30 shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

With reports of cybersecurity mishaps surfacing periodically, the retail industry has only a so-so reputation for protecting consumer data. In fact, data breaches have just become a part of doing business.

Heading into the fiercely competitive holiday shopping season, Walmart is poised to capture an even larger portion of this year’s online retail sales, according to eMarketer's latest retail forecast.

Buy online, pick up in-store is seen as the solution for consumers who don’t want to wait for their package, but according to an OrderDynamics survey, 30.3% of retailers in select countries can confirm an order for pickup—more or less in the same timeframe as standard shipping—in two or more days.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, holiday shoppers have 32 days to complete their gift-giving checklists. This is the most time retailers will ever have, and it only happens every seven years. Dawn Erksa, senior director of marketing for The Home Depot spoke with eMarketer's Danielle Drolet about the home improvement giant's upcoming seasonal plans.