Agilence Whitepaper: Balancing BOPIS & Loss Prevention
Buy Online Pickup in Store (BOPIS) is becoming a must-have service for retailers of all sizes. Consumers now expect the convenience of online ordering, especially through mobile devices, and quick pick-up no matter how big the retailer is. Unfortunately, the percentage of fraudulent BOPIS purchases is above average with retailers reporting a loss of 3-5% (with some as high as 10% or more).

Enabling the convenience of BOPIS without forsaking massive loss is the delicate balance that Loss Prevention professionals now face which is why we've created this easy guide to balancing BOPIS and LP. Download the whitepaper here.

LPF Announces Auror as Newest Bachelor Level Partner
The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) announces its newest Bachelor Level Partner, Auror USA, Inc. The Bachelor level partnership allows Auror to provide LPQ and LPC certification course scholarships, as well as LPF memberships, to loss prevention industry professionals.

Specializing in retail crime intelligence and crime prevention, Auror offers a platform for retailers to report, solve, and prevent crime in their stores. The Auror Retail Crime Intelligence Platform streamlines the crime reporting process and connects the dots on criminal activity, and distributes real-time intelligence on threats, fundamentally transforming how retailers prevent crime. yourlpf.org
 

Coronavirus Update: April 1

US: 200K+ Cases, 4K+ Dead -- Globally: 875K+ Cases, 43K+ Dead



 

Traffic at Walmart, Costco and Target falls for the first time in weeks as coronavirus stockpiling behavior shifts

Shopper traffic could climb again, though social distancing and e-commerce
may keep consumers away from stores

Walmart traffic was down 6.7% year-over-year for the third week of March. The previous week, traffic was up 18.4%. At Costco, traffic fell 8.7% year-over-year for the third week of March. The second week of March, traffic jumped 34.7%. And at Target, traffic slumped 20.5% in the third week of March after climbing 19.2% year-over-year the previous week.

"There is a downside to stocking up for the long haul," wrote Ethan Chernofsky, vice president of marketing for Placer.ai, in a post on the company's blog. "Once you have all the things you need, there is little need for more visits."

Placer.ai data shows that the slowdown was more pronounced in areas that have been hit harder by the coronavirus outbreak. For instance New York, which is most affected in the U.S., saw the sharpest decline, while in Arizona, where the impact has been far less, the decline wasn't as steep.

"The positive here is that the data indicates that as the situation improves, and doesn't worsen, consumer behavior tends to return to more normal patterns," Chernofsky wrote. "Should this trend hold, it's a very strong endorsement for those who believe that wider retail activity could quickly return to previous levels should the preventative measures being enacted serve their ultimate goal." marketwatch.com

Walmart Amps Up Its Virus Response for Workers

Mandated One-Way Aisles - Employee Masks, Gloves & Temperature Checks

The nation's biggest private employer will begin supplying "high-quality" masks and gloves to associates who request them starting this week, and will conduct temperature checks on them at its warehouses and stores.

It's also trying to reduce crowding in stores by implementing procedures like one-way aisles that are normally reserved for high-traffic events like Black Friday. The personal protective equipment will go to warehouses first and then reach stores in the coming weeks, beginning in areas hardest hit by the coronavirus.

While it's hard enough to keep employees safe, an even bigger challenge for Walmart is managing the flow of customers eager to stock up on food, toilet paper and disinfecting wipes. Grocery sales rose 68% over the past two weeks, according to Nielsen data. Walmart is experiencing "astonishing volume," Bartlett said, and is working with local officials to test and implement "crowd-management protocols." Still, he said that it's hard for employees "to have to be enforcers of social distancing." Walmart has already begun mandating one-way aisles in the U.K. and Canada, he said.

The unprecedented stresses on cashiers and shelf-stockers have resulted in more of them than normal missing or skipping shifts, said Bartlett, who described the situation as "manageable." Walmart has also hired nearly 50,000 new associates as of last night, he said, part of its pledge to bring on 150,000 and increase its U.S. workforce by 10%. bloomberg.com

Walmart Blog Post: Additional Steps We're Taking for the Health and Safety of Our Associates

Home Depot asks employees to take temperatures before coming to work, will limit traffic

Costco limits members to one guest while shopping

Kroger announces $2 'hero bonus' for staff members working during pandemic

Whole Foods workers hold 'sick-out' to demand hazard pay during pandemic
Whole Foods workers organized a national "sick-out" protest on Tuesday, demanding that the grocery store give employees double their normal wages as "hazard pay" for working on the frontlines during a pandemic. The Whole Foods protest follows worker-organized strikes for better coronavirus protections at Instacart, the grocery delivery service, and at an Amazon warehouse in New York.

Whole Worker, an organization of Whole Foods employees, called on workers to stay home sick on Tuesday to pressure the company to improve health protections for grocery workers, including paid sick leave for all workers who need to self-isolate, reinstatement of healthcare coverage for part-time workers, better sanitation equipment, and the immediate shutdown of any store location where an employee tests positive for Covid-19. theguardian.com

Could the coronavirus outbreak lead to a wave of unionization in retail?
The coronavirus outbreak has led workers from all kinds of industries to push for greater protections from their employers. Retail is no exception.

At retail stores that have been classified as essential, like pharmacies and groceries, some workers are pushing for hazard pay, as they grow increasingly worried that coming into their stores each day means putting their personal health at risk. They're also asking for their employers to provide them with personal protective equipment, like masks and gloves. Meanwhile, some workers at stores like GameStop and Joann Fabrics have tangled with managers over the fact that they believe corporate has wrongly classified their stores as essential.

This begs the question of how, once the coronavirus outbreak slows, which temporary changes to a retailer's paid sick leave policy or pay increases will stick. One potential outcome: that more retail workers will seek to unionize. modernretail.co

Apple Asks Store Workers to Take On Tech Support Roles
Apple Inc. is asking retail store employees to temporarily become remote technical support staff while stores remain closed. A subset of retail staff are participating in the program to become work-from-home AppleCare employees so the company has enough workers to handle customer requests. The company quietly piloted the move in recent weeks before prodding many employees this week to take part. In a video message on Friday, Apple retail chief Deirdre O'Brien said the effort "has been going great." bloomberg.com

Retailers agreed to coronavirus testing in their parking lots.
Then they hit hurdles

4 retailers have collectively opened only 5 drive-thru testing locations so far,
None available to the general public

After a meeting with President Donald Trump in mid-March, executives from Walmart, Target, CVS and Walgreens flanked him in the White House Rose Garden while he announced the new public-private partnership that would lead to the opening of drive-through coronavirus testing sites.

Four national retailers have collectively opened five testing sites since the March 13 news conference where Trump announced the initiative. Walmart is hosting two testing sites on its properties in the Chicago suburbs and Walgreens has one in the same area. CVS has one drive-through testing center near Worcester, Mass., and drug store company Rite Aid is now operating one testing site in Philadelphia.

Those sites are only for health professionals and first responders exhibiting symptoms and were selected by retailers working in collaboration with government authorities to identify stores that are best suited to handle testing in critical areas, HHS said.

The retailers said they remain committed to opening additional drive-through testing locations, while acknowledging that they had encountered certain difficulties at the pilot sites. Walmart, for example, has struggled with a shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE, for the professionals administering tests at sites in Northlake and Joliet, Ill., and found like many state and local governments that testing kits were in short supply. mcclatchydc.com

New York governor begs for help amid 'staggering' death toll
New York's governor has issued an urgent appeal for medical volunteers amid a "staggering" number of deaths from the coronavirus. He said an additional 1 million health care workers are needed to tackle the crisis.

"Please come help us in New York now," Governor Andrew Cuomo said as the state's death toll climbed by more than 250 in a single day to a total of more than 1,200 victims, most of them in the city.

Meanwhile a Navy hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, also sent to the city after 9/11, had arrived with 1,000 beds to relieve pressure on overwhelmed hospitals. yahoo.com

NYPD has 5,600 officers (15% of uniformed force) out sick - 1,200 have coronavirus, 5 dead

Home Depot halts coronavirus N95 mask sales, implements temperature checks for workers

Ahold Delhaize USA donates $10 million relief package to local communities

L.L.Bean CEO: Congress needs to step up for 'middle market retail'

Pa. Mall Rips Wells Fargo's 'Outrageous' COVID-19 Rent Grab




JC Penney furloughs 'majority' of hourly store associates and 'significant portion' of corporate staff

Belk furloughs workers and extends store closures

Hobby Lobby quietly reopened stores in at least 2 states, defying coronavirus-related shutdowns and prompting police intervention

Best Buy to pay employees for two more weeks while stores remain closed

Urban Outfitters says it won't pay rent for an undisclosed amount of time
 

Nike and the Post COVID-19 "New Normal" Disruptive Future of Retail

By Tony D'Onofrio, Global Retail Influencer

During China's peak of the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year, nearly 760 million people were in some form of home lockdown. Nike's omni-channel response is an example of the positive actions taken by retailers during the health crisis.

This article summarizes the COVID-19 China's "new retail" strategies, generational commerce transformation trends, and the latest global / regional retail sales forecasts post the pandemic.

China COVID-19 Lessons Accelerating the Future of Retail

Conceived by Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, "New Retail is a critical chapter in the comeback story of physical retail, and the digitization of all retail." As China has now transitioned through most of the COVID-19 crisis, here are a few lessons from new retail:

● China's online retail market was projected to reach nearly $2 trillion in 2019 or 35.3% of total retail sales. This infrastructure was vital in responding to COVID-19.

● To protect consumers and delivery services couriers, Chinese companies rolled out "contactless delivery" services that in addition to home provided lockers or designated pick up locations. Some delivery apps, took it a step further in "offering up temperature readings of restaurant workers and couriers alongside every order of noodles or fried chicken."

● Delivery robots and drones were called into delivery service during the crisis.

Read more here: tonydonofrio.com
 

Australian security business 'acted as a front' for $100 million
money laundering syndicate
A sixth person has been charged in connection with a south-west Sydney security business that allegedly acted as a front to launder $100 million from organised crime groups in Australia and abroad.

Assure Protection Services in Guildford was raided by the NSW Criminal Groups Squad in July last year, after an unrelated drug investigation uncovered an alleged money laundering syndicate.

Police allege the security firm was a semi-legitimate business servicing retail, industrial and commercial industries, however its primary function was to "act as a front" for the money laundering operation; taking cash, depositing it at local banks, withdrawing it and handing it back.

After raids on the security business police alleged syndicate members collected cash and moved it through a series of financial transactions in order to disguise its origins and to "give it legitimacy." The cash was then allegedly withdrawn and returned to organised crime syndicates or remitted offshore. smh.com.au

Chanel and The RealReal Both Nab Wins in Ongoing Counterfeit Lawsuit
The RealReal and Chanel have each scored a few wins in the highly-watched trademark-centric lawsuit that the famous French brand waged against the resale giant for allegedly selling counterfeit goods, and using the Chanel name to "deceive consumers into falsely believing that [it] has some kind of approval from or an association or affiliation with Chanel [when it doesn't] or that all CHANEL-branded goods sold by The RealReal ("TRR") are authentic." In response to the motion to dismiss that the San Francisco-based resale site filed last year, a New York federal court has agreed to toss out a number of Chanel's claims, while enabling three to remain intact. thefashionlaw.com

Jack Hayes Report on Loss Prevention Newsletter - Spring 2020 (Vol 35 No 2)
Articles In This Quarter's Issue:

● Theft By Impersonators (page 1) - Be on the lookout for people visiting or calling your stores pretending to be someone else for fraudulent reasons.
● Workplace Violence (page 2) - This article discusses a recent retail workplace violence incident and lists some warning signs of potential coworker violence.
● Testing For Success (page 3) - With the 31st Annual Retail Theft Survey reporting the average dishonest employee case value in 2018 being $1,361.37 and up 30.1% from the previous year, take a short quiz to see how your current employee theft prevention stacks up.
● Shrink Stats & Trends (page 4) - In this article you will find some additional shrink stats including Average Case Value and Shrink Trends.

Bankrupt Lucky's Market to sell 23 stores, distribution center for $29 million

Art Van Furniture in 'Cataclysmic' Situation, Facing Liquidation

Modell's Gets Pause In Chapter 11 Due To COVID-19

Williams-Sonoma owes $1M to FTC over misleading 'Made in America' claims

Coronavirus helps push Macy's out of the S&P 500
 

Marriott Hacked... Again
Hotel chain suffers 2nd major breach in 16 months, affecting 5.2M customers
In November 2018, hotel giant Marriott disclosed that it had suffered one of the largest breaches in history. That hack compromised the information of 500 million people who had made a reservation at a Starwood hotel.

On Tuesday, Marriott announced that it had once again been hit. Up to 5.2 million members of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program may have had their personal information stolen, although be aware that sometimes those numbers get upwardly revised.

The details of this latest hack seem to be not quite as devastating as the last one, too, given that sensitive information like passport numbers doesn't seem to be affected. Still, that a major company could get hit twice in such a relatively short time frame underscores how at-risk your data is - and how not enough is being done to protect it.

According to details provided by Marriott on Tuesday, the intrusion dates back to mid-January, when someone used the credentials of two franchise property employees - whether those credentials were stolen is unclear at this point - to access an "unexpected amount of guest information." Those data points included contact details like names, email and home addresses, and phone numbers, as well as gender, birthday, frequent flier numbers, loyalty account info, and hotel preferences, like whether you like being near or far from the elevator. wired.com

Top 3 COVID-19 Phishing Campaigns
The cyberthreats following in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic are not substantively different from the threats that security professionals have dealt with during other national or global calamities. However, this crisis is unique in the scale and the level of disruption it has ushered in. Security teams are scrambling to support an increasing number of remote workers who in many instances introduce new devices to the network, put pressure on VPNs, and heighten the risk of Business Email Compromise (BEC).

This attack vector is almost always the simplest, and therefore the first option for many cybercriminals who are now using COVID-19 lures to compromise as many accounts as they can. Their goal is to harvest as many credentials as they can while the pandemic dominates the headlines. Below are summaries of the latest observed campaigns.

● CDC and WHO impersonation phishing campaigns: These campaigns play on peoples' need for reliable COVID-19 information, and are mainly designed for Microsoft Outlook credentials theft via links to phishing pages.

● Fake government stimulus check phishing emails: The FBI is warning of an ongoing phishing campaign that uses fake government economic stimulus checks as bait to steal personal information from potential victims

● Fake intracompany or departmental advisories phishing emails: These are phishing emails masquerading as IT, human resources, or business continuity and emergency advisories from within the organization. Employees might be motivated to open malicious attachments or click on links that promise to provide COVID-19 updates or information pertaining to remote work policies, or staff downsizing or realignments. rhisac.org

FBI: Cybercrime Gang Mailing 'BadUSB' Devices to Targets

Malicious USB Devices Accompanied by Fake Gift Cards to Entice Would-Be Victims

Never underestimate the power of a weaponized tchotchke, especially when paired with a free teddy bear and gift card.

The FBI recently warned businesses that they may be targeted by a fiendish new scheme being practiced by the FIN7 gang, also known as the Carbanak Group and the Navigator Group.

The notorious gang has already been tied to more than $1 billion in fraud, typically by infecting point-of-sale devices with malware and using it to steal payment card details (see: The Art of the Steal: FIN7's Highly Effective Phishing). govinfosecurity.com

Criminals Resurrect A Banking Trojan To Push COVID-19 Relief Payment Scam
The Zeus Sphinx malware is making a comeback. For the past three years it's been almost completely silent. Now it's back and it's masquerading as COVID-19 relief payments.

In December of last year, researchers with IBM X-Force started detecting signs of activity again. After what appears to have been a brief testing period, that activity has spiked this month.

Like so many of the COVID-19 campaigns that have sprung up in recent months, Zeus Sphinx is being distributed as so-called "malspam." Emails claiming to offer financial relief bring with them infected documents disguised as government claim forms. inhomelandsecurity.com