North America's 'Out of Stock' Losses ($72b) Greater Than U.S. Shrink ($44b)
Empty Shelves $37.1b - No Help $29.6b - Employee Can't Find $6b  One contributing factor is the "proliferation of products at the online channels, which is making it harder for retailers to predict how much inventory to have to meet supply and demand. North America contributed $37.1 billion in lost sales for the category of empty shelves. Customers who can't find the help they need also sometimes walk out empty-handed was included in the category. Common in North America due to inadequate staffing, the conclusion was that proper labor scheduling technology could help in lowering the cost. Here, North America contributed $29.6 billion to the overall category.

Another subcategory under out-of-stocks is when employees can't find the products the loss tally in North America was $14.7 billion. Improvement in training and inventory accuracies can help, such as through better systems and radio-frequency identification at the item level. The study said when RFID is used, "retailers have seen this number reduce by 50 percent in tagged categories." Another area that hurts retailers is when there are pricing mismatches compared with promotions, accounting for a loss of $6B in North America.  wwd.com

Top Luxury Brand CEO 'Counterfeits Are Great For Advertising' - The Benefits of Counterfeiting  The counterfeiter might be a profit-sapping scourge to many designers, but recently published research from a trio of academics shows that fakes can also push brands to up their game - particularly in terms of aesthetics.

A study published in Market Science academic journal looked at 31 brands that sold fashion leather and sport shoes in China from 1993 to 2004. The research showed that when there was a moderate amount of counterfeiting, brands would essentially resign themselves to splitting profits with counterfeiters and improve their product to capture "high-valuation expert consumers if the innovation cost is not too high." But the brands eventually became more proactive.

The study said: "When counterfeiting grows too rampant and fools too many consumers, the market incentives turn....The authentic brand will invest to innovate and differentiate itself from counterfeiters in terms of searchable quality....Counterfeiting induces the authentic producer to invest more in the product's searchable quality (e.g., appearance) and less in experiential quality (e.g., the functionality of the shoes, not apparent to consumers at the time of purchase)."

Qian told WWD that research shows counterfeiting, in addition to spurring innovation, can also help advertise brands, serving as buzz agents, while pushing authentic brands to vertically integrate their distribution and open licensed specialty stores. "Subsequently both brand image and customer loyalty are enhanced," he said. Editor's Note" One Top brand's president recently was quoted as saying he loves the increased advertising.  wwd.com

$116 Billion in retail sales wasn't even listed on 'Stores Top 100' 15 years ago
According to Stores Magazine's latest Top 100 Retailers list, #9 retailer Amazon generated $83 billion in worldwide retail sales last year, while #14 retailer Apple had almost $33 billion. Combined, these two e-commerce giants generated more than $116 billion in worldwide retail sales. Fifteen years ago these numbers didn't even appear in the Top 100. And where do you think all those sales came from? The rest of the retailers on that exact list.

DOL Overtime Rules May Rattle Retailers With Litigation - Rule change coming that will rock retail  Currently, wage-and-hour litigation is thriving. In 2014 alone, 8,086 Fair Labor Standards Act cases were filed across the nation.[1] This is an increase of 124 percent from the number of cases filed 10 years prior.[2] The legal system has witnessed several consecutive years of increased wage-and-hour filings, outpacing all other types of workplace class actions. Accordingly, significant costs continue to be incurred by employers due to wage-and-hour claims.

The DOL's proposed rule change would raise threshold from $23,660 to $50,440 the new overt time threshold - the base rate to meet white collar exemption which could dramatically impact retail industry operations across the U.S. Retailers will need to assess whether previously exempt positions, such as assistant store managers, would be subject to the FLSA's overtime pay requirements under the new rule. A significant increase in the number of hourly retail workers may lead employers to consider overhauling their staffing models. Employees, such as assistant store managers previously covered by Section 13(a)(1)'s white collar exemption, may be reclassified as hourly employees and experience decreased working hours as employers attempt to reduce overtime payments. law360.com

Lowe's HR manager's over time suit continues - how does it impact LPM's long term?  A New York federal judge refused Friday to certify a proposed collective action accusing Lowe's Cos. Inc. of improperly cutting human resources managers out of overtime pay, saying the lead plaintiff failed to show she is similarly situated to members of the proposed class. While one was denied class certification others have won an earlier suit where Lowe's agreed to settle for $4.5M. But the judge denied a proposed $4.5 million settlement in the case, saying that statements in the settlement filings contradicted the operative complaint and that the deal wasn't a strong enough assurance that putative class members would be paid.

The suit, originally filed in April 2014 in New York state court, alleges the home improvement giant and its top executives conspired to misclassify its human resources managers and withhold overtime wages while forcing them to work more than 40 hours each week. Lead plaintiffs Cynthia Augustyniak and Denise Giambrone alleged in their original complaint that the retailer gave them a position with "manager" in the title, despite the fact that their positions didn't actually entail any managerial responsibilities, in order to deprive them of overtime wages.

Lowe's regularly requires its human resources managers to work more than 40 hours each week without receiving overtime pay, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the suit.  law360.com

Walmart supports disaster relief on Katrina anniversary - $25M donation to disaster recovery - Major Corporations should do more  In observance of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Wal-Mart Stores and the Walmart Foundation on Friday said they would make a $25 million donation to support organization focused on disaster recovery worldwide. Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart Stores Inc thinks global corporations have the vast supply chain, vendor networks, trucks and workers needed to usher in resources after a storm, tornado or flood. He called for more partnerships between government and the corporate sector in planning and preparing for future disasters. supermarketnews.com nola.com

Walmart signs off on preventing car tragedies - 'Look Before You Leave' Signs - Florida ranks second in the nation for child deaths  Signs in the doors of local Walmarts remind parents to check for their children, because of the number of hot-car deaths across our state. The signs encourage parents to "Look Before You Leave." Managers began posting the signs across the country in 2012 after a Walmart worker saw a news report about a child who died from heatstroke in a car. Three children have died in Florida this year. Two died last year.  nbc-2.com

A&P tells over 5,000 workers they may face Thanksgiving layoffs
Montvale-based A&P has notified its more than 5,000 New Jersey employees that they may face layoffs as the company seeks bankruptcy court approval to sell some stores and close others. Most of the notifications, which are required by law, went out this week to 5,336 workers in 62 stores the chain hopes to sell, warning them that they may face layoffs on Thanksgiving Day. In July the company sent notices to more than 850 employees at the 10 stores A&P plans to close in New Jersey, including two Pathmarks in Clifton, saying layoffs would be effective Sept. 19. northjersey.com

Ascena Retail Group and Ann Inc merger to reap "$150M in expected cost savings between the combined companies"

Sycamore Partners Buys Belk For $3 Billion

Chipotle to hire 4,000 people on National Career Day, Sept. 9th

'Integrated Solutions For Retailers' rebrands to 'Innovative Retail Technologies'

Quarterly Same-Store Sales Results

Tuesday Morning Q4 comp's up 3.6% with net sales up 0.2% (closed 41 stores)
Gordman's Stores Q2 comp's down 1.6% with sales up 1.7%


Last week's most popular news article --

One alarming reason why Wal-Mart's profit is down - "Wal-Mart's theft problem is getting worse"  Wal-Mart US President Greg Foran said Tuesday that theft, which the company calls shrinkage, is one of three major factors behind the retailer's drop in profit in the most recent quarter. "Inventory shrinkage was meaningfully higher than planned for the quarter," Foran said in an earnings call. Wal-Mart likely loses about 1% of its US revenue - or roughly $3 billion dollars every year - to stealing by customers and employees.

The other factors contributing to Wal-Mart's profit decline are a drop in gross margin, primarily related to lower than expected pharmacy reimbursements, and higher wages, Foran said. "I want to be straightforward: These issues will present continuing profit challenges for the remainder of the year," he said. "We are certainly disappointed. But we are not standing still. We know we can do better, and we will." businessinsider.com

eBay European Global Asset Protection Team
Assists in a 12 Month Sentencing Case