Wal-Mart has 1,000 U.S. stores terminals ready for 'Chip and Pin' - the rest will be ready by years end  Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, says it has 1,000 stores ready for a transformative change in credit card technology and plans to have the rest of their U.S. stores ready by the end of 2014. An official with the National Retail Federation told a congressional panel Wednesday (April 16) that the retail industry is committed to safeguarding and protecting consumer data and information from highly-motivated and sophisticated cybercriminals and hackers. He described NRF’s support for immediately transitioning away from fraud-prone credit cards that utilize 1960s technology (magnetic-stripe and signature) to more advanced and secure cards that incorporate a Personal Identification Number or PIN, or Chip and PIN cards that include a computer microchip. Wal-Mart told The City Wire that it has long supported the adoption of chip and pin technology within the United States. "We are glad to see this discussion taking place. The rest of the world is already using this technology and we think it’s past time for card issuers to adopt this technology in the U.S.,” said Brooke Buchanan, spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Source thecitywire.com)

Can RFID save brick-and-mortar retailers after all?
It's been more than a decade since Walmart shook the retail world with a bold plan to plaster its supply chain with RFID. It bombed -- but rising from the ashes is a "barcode on steroids" that might just be a savior for Macy's and other retailers. Based on early pilot success, Macy's began installing RFID infrastructure in all its 850 stores. Starting this month, Connell says, Macy's is expanding substantially the number of vendors it is asking to ship items that are pre-tagged with RFID. By the end of the summer, the retailer plans to have half of all replenishment vendors sending RFID-tagged merchandise. As it turns out, RFID helps retailers much more significantly on the sales floor than in their supply chains. This is especially true with apparel, which thanks to multiple size and color combinations can be troublesome to keep properly stocked. "A warehouse can be Six Sigma, but [inside] a store is No Sigma," Hardgrave quipped. "Stores are chaotic. The processes are not repetitive; customers don't behave the same way every day; the weather isn't the same every day and that impacts buying patterns. So this is where RFID has the most value." (Source cnn.com)

Amazon Acquires Sears - One analyst thought
If you have any doubts, just wake up and think about it. It’s a win-win for both Jeff “Get Big Fast” Bezos and Eddie “Take the Money and Run” Lampert. Amazon gets roughly 2400 US stores (or “buildings”), overnight (1300 Sears, 1100 Kmart). The acquisition becomes Bezos’ answer to omnichannel and the proven revenue synergy of consumers’ ability to shop online and off; the convenience of proximity for pick up and returns; and facilitation of even greater delivery speed. So just as Walmart’s 4500 stores double as distribution centers, so would Amazon’s acquired Sears/Kmart stores. The real estate assets would be the primary reason for Amazon’s interest in acquiring Sears Holdings. However, there are several other valuable assets and operations, which Amazon could enhance and grow. What Eddie gets in such a sale is a potentially profitable exit strategy that many analysts, myself included, believe he is pursuing. In fact, in several of my past articles I have opined that Lampert was, indeed, managing the business into liquidation. And regarding the real estate assets, Lampert has been methodically selling, leasing (partial or in total), and/or closing Sears and Kmart locations. Indeed, he indicated not too long ago that Sears Holdings was considering shuttering its entire fleet of Kmart stores. So if he is seeking an exit, a far less painful and certainly more profitable option would be a sale to Amazon. This could fall nicely into Bezos’ hungry little hands. Amazon might be able to cut an incredible deal, at least far less costly in time and capital, than building or leasing its own nationwide distribution centers/stores. (Source therobinreport.com)

Tyco expands Global Center of Excellence in Birmingham, Ala.
It’s like the United Nations of security at Tyco’s new Global Center of Excellence. Walk through the office and you’ll hear engineers speaking Chinese, Russian and Arabic. Fourteen languages are spoken here. In addition to linguistic fluency, employees must also understand the business culture in their countries of expertise, Daryl Haga, director of Tyco’s GCoE, told Security Systems News. From here, Tyco supports its global enterprise customers in 38 countries around the world. Ninety employees—design engineers, CAD operators, program managers, system engineers and others—are responsible for working with Tyco’s largest customers to develop, maintain and support its customers’ security operations. (Source securitysystemnews.com)

Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) Issues Fraud Task Force Report  The Transportation Intermediaries Association said it has taken a step to reduce fraud and theft-related losses for brokers by issuing a task force report. The group’s 2014 Framework to Combat Fraud, rolled out April 12 at the annual meeting here, is designed to counter five situations by using best practices identified by other members. They are cargo theft, financial theft, identity theft, fraud prevention and post-fraud follow-up action. This framework presents a compilation of best practices that TIA members and Fraud Task Force participants have used to protect themselves,” said Geoff Turner, who is TIA’s board chairman and CEO of Choptank Transport. “This resource complements TIA Watchdog, a Web-based forum for the industry to report information on problems to each other,” Turner said. (Source ttnews.com)

Jones Group split into four independent retailers by new owners - LP Jobs? Or LP consulting services needed? Solution providers opportunities as well  Sycamore Partners announced that it has reorganized the remaining businesses of The Jones Group into four independent operating companies: the Nine West Group, a jeanswear company (which will be named later), Jones New York, and the Kasper Group. Each will operate as an independent company led by its own management team. (Source chainstoreage.com)

Barnes & Noble Chairman & majority owner reduces stake further - sold 3.7M shares yesterday after selling 2M in Dec.

Smarter Cards - EMV (Europe Master Card & Visa) Coming soon to your stores  An info graphic (Source businessweek.com)

Quarterly Same Store Sales Results

Sherwin Williams Q1 paint stores up 7.9% with net sales up 16.4%
Canada's Metro grocery stores Q2 up 1% with sales up 1.7%

The Daily will not be publishing tomorrow,
so have a very Happy Easter!

All the News - One Place - One Source - One Time
The D&D Daily respects your time & doesn't filter retail's reality
 

8% Of Employee-Committed Frauds Involve Data Theft
While most companies work hard to ensure data protection and prevent fraud, they often overlook the fact that many data breaches and thefts are the result of employee actions. The need to give inside and outside threats equal attention has been highlighted by a new report. According to its Employee Fraudscape publication, the number of frauds committed by staff members increased by 18% in 2013, with 8% of all cases involving data theft. As a result of such incidents, sensitive information can end up in the hands of criminal elements, who can then use it to commit various cyber offences such as siphoning off money from bank accounts. (Source misco.co.uk)

Hackonomics: Street prices for black market bugs
The Juniper Networks blog post Hackonomics: A First-of-Its-Kind Economic Analysis of the Cyber Black Markets concluded that the "Cyber Black Market" is more profitable than — and poised to surpass in profitability — the global illegal drug trade. As a RAND report explained, the black market for cybercrime, once a "varied landscape of discrete, ad hoc networks of individuals motivated by ego and notoriety, has now become a burgeoning powerhouse of highly organized groups, often connected with traditional crime groups (e.g., drug cartels, mafias, terrorist cells) and nation-states." The cost for data records or credit cards varies, naturally — certain cards and accounts are more expensive than others. The experts at RAND stated, "Prices for credit card data may start at $20–$45/record if supply is limited or the cards are freshly acquired, or $10–$12 if there is an influx." (Source zdnet.com)

Pier 1 makes web a higher priority; web sales represented 4% of total sales for 2014 fiscal year

Cyber Security: 60% of Techies Don't Tell Bosses About Breaches Unless It's 'Serious'
 

Verint Retail Solutions Shine at Retail Asset Protection Conference
Last week, at RILA's Asset Protection Conference, Verint showcased their industry-leading loss prevention, retail analytics and situational awareness solutions, all of which help retailers to better understand customer behavior, reduce fraud and loss, and improve store operations. Verint is dedicated to helping retailers reduce theft and fraud, while also giving them the opportunity to leverage their surveillance technology into actionable business intelligence. Click here to see the two leading technologies Verint showcased at the RILA conference last week. (Source verint.com)

Google Using Big Data to Match Web Users to Their Purchases in Stores  Retailers have long struggled to determine whether online ads fuel sales in their bricks-and-mortar stores. Now, Google is testing a way to solve that puzzle. A pilot program begun by the Internet company is helping about six advertisers match the anonymous tracking cookies on users' computers to in-store sales information collected by Big Data companies. One participant in the program is the arts-and-crafts chain Michaels Stores Inc. Other retailers are unknown at this time. (Source wsj.com)

5 Reasons Why Too Much Data Can Be Risky
Chasing the promises of Big Data, and enabled by cheap storage, CIOs have gotten in the habit of holding onto consumer data for unknown future purposes, said Gerald Ferguson, a data privacy attorney at the law firm Baker & Hostetler LLP. That customer data may be laying dormant across dozens of systems, like payment and marketing platforms. To lower Big Data risks, Mr. Ferguson says, companies should maintain an inventory of what personal data is stored and why and if there isn’t a compelling reason to hold onto the information it should be deleted. “Data that you’re storing and not making money off is a liability,” Mr. Ferguson said. According to the article, 5 reasons why too much data can be risky include: 1. Europeans Want You To Forget Them. 2. Hackers Can Find Data You Shouldn't Have. 3. Customers Can Discover You Know More Than You Should. 4. Too Many Alerts Without Being Alert. 5. Indiscriminate Collection Can Lead To Breaking The Rules. (Source wsj.com)
 

6 indicted, 15 others sought in ORC theft ring in Lancaster, Ohio hitting Lowe's, Burlington Coat, Victoria's Secret and others  Twenty-one people are facing charges related to a retail theft ring that was active for approximately one year and spanned multiple Ohio counties, prosecutors said. Some of the people allegedly involved in this retail theft ring, which targeted major chain stores in Fairfield, Licking, Union and Franklin counties, have been indicted with jury trials scheduled, and others still have outstanding warrants for their arrest. Fairfield County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jocelyn Kelly will prosecute each of the cases individually, along with the assistance of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office. Those involved in the theft ring are accused of having one group steal from stores, then getting a different group of people to return the items at a different chain store location for gift cards. "Then they went and sold the cards for cash,” Kelly said. According to the attorney general’s office, some of the thefts occurred at Lowe’s, Burlington Coat Factory and Victoria’s Secret, among other places. The Columbus Police Department investigated the case. However, each individual will have his or her own trial in Fairfield County because Kelly said a lot of the criminal activity occurred locally. The following have been indicted by Fairfield Grand Jury in April 2014. (Source lancastereaglegazette.com) (Source newarkadvocate.com)


Daily update: More on Operation Crossover in Long Beach - 'Insane Crips' gang ORC ring bust - Estimated value $5M according to retail source  Ten search warrants were served in connection with “Operation Crossover” triggered by as many as 100 crimes were allegedly committed by members of the Long Beach gang “Insane Crip Gang.” 10 arrested and 4 still on the loose. (Source ktla.com)


Female ORC suspect hitting Marshall's stores in Oklahoma City with getaway driver  Larceny investigators say on Wednesday, April 9, the woman went to Marshalls located at 1425 W. I-240 around noon. A security guard at the store told police the woman was carrying 10 purses and walked out of the store without paying. The purses have a combined value of $1,300. Then, on Sunday, April 13, around 11:30 a.m. a woman matching the same description entered the Marshalls located at 13730 N. Pennsylvania Avenue. An employee told police the woman lifted six pieces of miscellaneous merchandise totaling $220 and left the store, running to a yellow Jeep, saying "I am coming. I am coming." (Source news9.com)

Minn. city's 'outside-the-box' charges nail organized retail thieves
Police say the 50-year-old caught on store surveillance cameras in the Midway area is a professional shoplifter who has an "almost daily routine of boosting merchandise from retail stores," according to a police report. While police had several theft cases against Kelvin Dewayne Byrd of St. Paul, the value of the items stolen wasn't enough to charge him with felony theft under state law (it has to be at least $1,000), said Sgt. Charlie Anderson, who heads the St. Paul Police Department's Organized Retail Crime Unit, which he started last year. Instead, Anderson worked with prosecutors to take a different tack, charging Byrd with felony burglary. When Byrd was caught shoplifting, stores had issued "trespass" notices to him, which banned him from returning for one year. But because police say Byrd kept going back in the buildings without permission and stealing items, he was charged with two counts of third-degree burglary. The maximum sentence for that offense is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The charge is "outside the box ... it's creative," Anderson said, but, he added, Byrd's offenses fit the burglary statute. It's a strategy of the ORC unit to be tough on "egregious, brazen, repeat" offenders who are tied to organized retail theft, Anderson said. (Source securityinfowatch.com)
 

Checkpoint Systems and Mojix Partner to Bring Hands-Free RFID Inventory Management to Retail

Partnership Targets Improved Store Operations and Omni-Channel Program Execution via Hands-Free RFID Solutions

Orlando – April 8, 2014 – Checkpoint Systems, Inc., a leading global supplier of merchandise availability solutions for the retail industry, and Mojix Inc., the leading provider of wide-area, fixed infrastructure, passive-RFID solutions, today announced here at RFID Journal LIVE that they have entered into a global partnership. This relationship will bring end-to-end solutions designed to improve store operations and omni-channel program execution to brick-and-mortar retailers.

The end-to-end solution incorporates the best-of-breed Merchandise Visibility Solution from Checkpoint, together with Mojix’s OmniSenseRF advanced inventory tracking system for retail. The combined solution delivers multiple proven business benefits to retailers for continuous, perpetual inventory, item tracking and location identification.

Checkpoint’s Merchandise Visibility Solution includes:
 

Mojix’s OmniSenseRF advanced fixed infrastructure solution features a continuous inventory count engine and an item location engine leveraging Mojix’s experience and patented technology for Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) using phased array antennas. OmniSenseRF continuous count engine provides continuous visibility of EPC Gen2 tagged goods throughout the store. The OmniSenseRF location engine offers omni-channel retailers increased visibility for pick and ship from store, to find misplaced items and monitor inventory movement throughout the store.

“We see an increase in the number of apparel retailers interested in the benefits of an always-on, hands-free RFID solution,” said Farrokh Abadi, president and chief operating officer Merchandise Availability Solutions for Checkpoint Systems. “Together with Mojix, Checkpoint is pleased to offer a powerful fixed infrastructure solution proven to significantly boost same store revenue.”

Read more here.
 

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Why Leaders Should Network Inside Their Own Companies  The importance of networking can't be stressed enough. This is also true for networking internally: you need to be in the loop on what your team is working on and what their strong skills are. Your job as a leader is to understand the pieces of your department so you can strengthen it. (Just ask)

Seven Things Great Employers Do
Research has shown that disengaged employees outnumber those who are engaged by 2:1! Use these tips to help your team members stay engaged and keep your organization strong. If you can make work fun for them, you won't fail. (Be an involved leader)