Canadian stores set to drop prices to keep customers
The Canadian Retail Insights Report, released by credit card company American Express, says 48 per cent of Canadian retailers surveyed plan to drop prices this year, up from 35 per cent when they first did the survey in 2012. It says 83 per cent of Canadian retailers plan to offer sales, promotions or discounts to attract customers. "Canadian merchants are clearly serious about cultivating and maintaining customer loyalty, and they're reducing prices to get them in the door," says American Express Canada’s Jennifer Hawkins. "As a result, I expect we'll see increased competition among retailers across all verticals as they fight to retain and reach new customers." (Source yahoo.com)

New Survey - 61% of Canadians form opinion in less than a day - You get one chance to react to bad news & it better be right and quick  The expression “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression” has never been more relevant in today’s society hooked on around-the-clock media and platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. In the event of a public relations setback (of which Canada has had its fair share recently), 61 per cent of Canadians say they form their opinion less than a day. Of that 61 per cent, 17 per cent form their opinion immediately, 23 per cent within a few hours and the rest within 24 hours. Another 31 per cent say they take a position within a week. And, once that opinion is formed, nearly two-thirds of Canadians hold on to their opinion on the issue, even after hearing the organization’s response. When organizations react to negative news, they only have one opportunity to get the response right, and have an extremely short timeframe in which to respond,” he says. (Source yahoo.com)

Canadian retailers cutting prices in face of stiff competition
Canada is not the Promised Land it used to be for retailers hoping to expand globally. Asia is growing in importance as a market even as competition in Canada is leading existing retailers to discount prices as they battle to attract customers, according to new research from American Express and commercial real estate giant CBRE. Nearly half of companies across retail segments nationwide plan to put more emphasis on lowering prices – 48 per cent in all, compared to 35 per cent of those surveyed two years ago – according to the American Express research. (Source thestar.com)

Canada Charges U.S. Executives as Anti-Bribery Push Advances
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced corruption charges against two American executives and a U.K. national in a case that led to the first sentencing under Canada’s foreign-bribery law. RCMP said Wednesday that it charged U.S. nationals Robert Barra and Dario Bernini, the former chief executive and chief operating officers of CryptoMetrics Inc., with violating the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act. U.K. national Shailesh Govindia, an agent for the company, was also charged under the CFPOA, as well as with one count of fraud. The charges relate to an investigation into allegations of bribery scheme by CryptoMetrics Canada as it scored a contract worth about $100 million to supply facial-recognition software to Air India, RCMP said. (Source wsj.com)

Mounties join crack down on Russian cyber crime - 2 and 1/2 year operation with the FBI  The Mounties took part in a criminal take down this week that saw a couple of servers seized in Montreal. These systems were being used by criminals, apparently located in Russia, who were running a malware network that was fleecing victims of millions of dollars. Last Friday, the RCMP seized two servers in Montreal in co-ordination with a two-and-a-half-year operation initiated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to an FBI affidavit filed in Pittsburgh, key servers in the CryptoLocker infrastructure were located in Canada, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. More than 5,000 users were victims in Canada, with potential losses close to $1.5-million, the RCMP said. (Source csoonline.com)

Arson unit investigating "suspicious" fire at Pharma Plus store in Ottawa, CN
Ottawa Police arson investigators and fire investigators are now looking into a blaze at a Pharma Plus store. The fire has been deemed suspicious. Firefighters got the call around 7:15 a.m. Sunday, the blaze was under control by 7:40 a.m. Ottawa Fire says there's no damage estimate available now but smoke and water damage is extensive. There is also some minor smoke damage to two other nearby businesses. (Source cfra.com)

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