'Amazon Is a Brand Disaster Waiting to Happen'

The company is playing fast and loose in some markets where it's crucial to maintain the customers' trust, Inc.com says

Brand disasters aren't the same as business disasters. Business disasters are transitory problems from which companies can easily recover. For example, a series of bad quarterly results is a business disaster, but the disaster becomes moot after you clock a couple good quarters.

Brand disasters are events that cause customers to no longer trust you. For example, if your product becomes responsible for numerous highly-publicized deaths, your existing customers will jump ship, and potential customers will be all "I don't think so..."

Amazon has recently been sacrificing its brand reputation by allowing third-party sellers to offer poor-quality products. According to the public interest group Pro Publica:

"[Our] investigation found 4,152 items for sale on Amazon.com's site that have been declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labeled or are banned by federal regulators -- items that big-box retailers' policies would bar from their shelves [including] at least 2,000 listings for toys and medications lacked warnings about health risks to children."

Amazon justifies substandard products on its site in a manner similar to how social media sites justify distasteful content--that they're just a platform and therefore not responsible, as long as they remove anything that violates their terms of service.

The problem is that Amazon.com has always positioned itself as a store rather than, say, a flea market. As such, customers may feel that Amazon should guarantee the goods it sells in the same way that brick and mortar stores guarantee the goods they sell.

Put another way, if a product being sold on Amazon.com starts killing people, the public is likely to blame Amazon rather than the supplier. inc.com

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Retail Trends

Hanwha Announces Top 5 Surveillance Trends for 2020
Hanwha Techwin, a global supplier of IP and analog video surveillance solutions, today announced its top five key trend predictions for the security industry in 2020. They include: AI end-to-end security solutions, cyber security, cloud-based data insights, privacy protection and vertical specialized solutions.

AI End-to-End Security Solutions
As AI becomes broadly adopted across industries, Hanwha says it will likely be widely incorporated in video surveillance in the upcoming year. Edge-based AI (which filters and processes data locally on a camera) will be more universal, enabling end-to-end AI technology.

Cyber Security
With IoT devices becoming abundant, Hanwha says the importance of cyber security has never been more important. Today's cyber-attacks are more intelligent and advanced than ever, so building cyber-resilient security systems is no longer an option, but an imperative.

Cloud-Based Data Insight
According to IDC, a provider of information technology market intelligence, there will be about 175 zettabytes of data in the world by the year 2025 with much of it stored in the cloud and data centers around the world. At the same time, video surveillance solutions will go far beyond functioning as a simple monitoring tool to become an indispensable aid to organizations by providing useful insights that improve business operations.

Privacy Protection
Together with cyber security, Hanwha Techwin believes the protection of personal data should be integral to the business ethics of a video surveillance company. By its very nature, the video data that is collected for security purposes almost always contains private information. Therefore, protecting surveillance data is imperative.

Vertical Specialized Solutions
Vertical markets in the security industry are increasingly requiring more specialized devices and solutions to meet their unique requirements. With the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution and 5G, Hanwha says the presence of smart verticals will be more prominent, and video surveillance companies must be ready to provide solutions for smart cities, factories, transportation and retail organizations. sdmmag.com

Will 2020 be the year of elevated shopping experiences?
The last decade is over and hopefully with it an end to talk of the retail apocalypse. The current decade starts off with a new class of retailers focused on improving the shopping experience for consumers in various ways. Here are predictions for 2020 and beyond:

● Temporary pop-ups to permanent homes
● Mass services to individualized attention
● High street to highly unique
● Data collection to data instant
● Full-service to retail-as-a-service
● Visitors to members retailwire.com

Mixed use retail spaces are the mall of the future
Mixed use retail spaces refer to spaces with more than one function, such as: dining, grocery, fitness, leisure, pet care, coworking spaces, and/or medical facilities. And those real estate folks were definitely onto something when they named mixed use retail spaces the highest-rated investment niche of 2017. Mixed use retail spaces reflect the preference of the times and a staggering 44 percent of adults say their shopping center visits are more likely to include a variety of activities than they were just two years ago.

And millennials are mixed-use retail spaces' biggest fans, which shouldn't come as surprise considering that millennials are reportedly happiest in urban areas where everything they need is within walking distance. When millennials come across customized, niche stores located in close proximity to one another, it commands their loyalty in a way that traditional malls can't. therobinreport.com

Do alcohol and shopping mix?
More shoppers in Virginia will be able to drink alcohol beverages openly at shopping centers if a recently-introduced law is passed.

Currently, four shopping developments have open-container access licensees in Virginia: Fairfax Corner, Loudoun Station, the Village at Leesburg, all in Northern Virginia, and 5th Street Station in Charlottesville. The license lets shoppers purchase alcohol in a restaurant or bar and take it outside to enjoy while they walk around and shop. Easily-identifiable to-go cups from a restaurant or bar prove shoppers didn't just bring the alcohol from home.

"It's very much to get people away from their computers and shopping online and out into the community, into their neighborhoods," Senator Barbara Favola, the lead sponsor of the bill, told Fox 5 in Washington D.C. "Retailers believe they really have to create a destination environment."

Open-container access licensees at shopping centers, particularly lifestyle ones supporting outside entertainment venues, have become more common in recent years as a traffic driver.

Opponents to open-container districts cite risks in family-friendly environments and challenges controlling responsible consumption including drinking and driving. retailwire.com

Sneakers, cosmetics among top US holiday purchases
According to a report from installment payment platform Afterpay, nearly 80% of customers used mobile devices for their purchases during the holiday season, which the report examined between Nov. 15, 2019 and the end of December. That represents a 12% increase in mobile purchasing from 2018.

The most popular brands in the U.S. included ColourPop, Nike, Levi's, Ray-Ban, Steve Madden and Jeffree Star Cosmetics, per the report. DSW, Urban Outfitters, Ulta Beauty and GOAT were the top retailers for American consumers, according to the report.

Among the top items U.S. consumers purchased were basketball shoes, running sneakers and cosmetics, according to the report. The company also noted that Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, Houston and Philadelphia were the U.S. cities with the highest shopping volume. retaildive.com

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Gun Retailer Asks Texas Justices To Nix Mass Shooting Suits
A Texas-based sporting goods store has asked the Texas Supreme Court to put a stop to four lawsuits brought by families of victims of the Sutherland Springs mass shooting that killed 26 people in 2017, saying a Colorado law banning high-capacity magazines can't preempt federal law shielding gun retailers.

Academy Sports & Outdoors filed a brief with the state's high court on Thursday, arguing that the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act requires dismissal of the lawsuits, which allege negligence in the company's sale of a semiautomatic rifle and high-capacity magazines to gunman Devin Kelley. law360.com

Court filings in Avenatti trial reveal secretly recorded Nike executive conversations
Court filings Monday in the upcoming extortion trial of famed attorney Michael Avenatti revealed that Avenatti's one-time client, AAU coach Gary Franklin, secretly recorded numerous conversations with high-level Nike Basketball executives.

Avenatti is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 21 in the Southern District of New York. He is charged with trying to "shake down" Nike by threatening to reveal its grassroots basketball department had allegedly funneled money to top high school prospects and their families/handlers. This is a manner similar to what caused an executive and consultant at rival Adidas to be convicted of fraud in 2018.

Avenatti counters he was representing a whistleblower, Franklin, who had lost his California-based travel team in part for not cooperating. Rather than extorting Nike, Avenatti contends he was negotiating a settlement for his then-client and offering to conduct an extensive independent investigation into the conduct of the Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) for Nike. yahoo.com

Trade Expert Joins RILA's Public Affairs Team
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) is pleased to announce Blake Harden has joined the association as its new vice president of international trade. Harden brings extensive trade experience to the role. She joins RILA after serving three years at the Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Trade where she worked as trade counsel to ranking member Kevin Brady (R-Texas). Prior to her work at Ways and Means, she was a senior attorney at the Office of Chief Counsel, Trade and Finance Section of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. rila.org

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Report: Retailers at risk from Iran cyberattack
Cyberattacks are an 'immediate' challenge for businesses following Iran strike

Iranian hackers may be preparing widespread attacks across U.S. industries - including retail.

According to CNBC, experts are warning that Iran may launch state-sponsored cyberattacks in response to a U.S. "decapitation strike" that killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Iraq on Friday, Jan. 3.

"Today's crisis highlights how volatile cyber risk can be, materializing and escalating almost overnight," Tom Reagan, U.S. cyber practice leader for Marsh, told CNBC.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a terror alert warning that Iran is experienced in cyberattacks and may attempt to hack into U.S. governmental and business infrastructure. A federal library website has already been hacked with a defamatory image of President Donald Trump, although it has not been publicly confirmed if the Iranian government is behind that incident.

In the past, Iran-sponsored hackers have attacked U.S. businesses, and an expert from cybersecurity firm Critical Start told CNBC that retail services companies could find themselves attacked as part of broader Iranian efforts to disrupt the American economy. chainstoreage.com

Study: Retail apps show alarming security issues
A surprisingly high percentage of retail and e-commerce apps may be putting customer data at risk.

According to a new study of 250 Android apps from mobile testing automation technology provider NowSecure, nearly three in four apps across industries, as well as 82% of retail and 92% of online retail apps, leak sensitive customer data. This includes customer name, user name, email, phone number, geolocation, account numbers, device ID, and device serial number.

One possible reason for the high percentage of retail and online retail apps that leak customers' personally identifiable information (PII) may be the relative lack of regulation regarding handling of data in the retail industry. Only 50% of tested apps from financial and insurance companies, which face strict regulation of how customer data is managed, showed security issues.

NowSecure advises retailers to ensure app developers follow best practices for building secure mobile apps and to close any gaps they find. Consumers are advised to halt the use of any apps that do not properly safeguard their private information. chainstoreage.com

AI Offers an Edge as Cybersecurity Sector Consolidates
The cybersecurity-vendor sector is set to trim some of its fat in 2020, venture-capital executives say, and companies that weave sophisticated technologies such as artificial intelligence into their products are the ones likely to succeed.

"I think we're just seeing the beginnings of more consolidation in cybersecurity. The space is too crowded," said Rama Sekhar, a partner at Norwest Venture Partners, based in Palo Alto, Calif.

Most of the consolidation is expected to affect companies that specialize in one aspect of cybersecurity and cannot scale to become a platform with multiple capabilities, Mr. Sekhar said.

Some deal making will come from larger vendors picking off smaller competitors or seeking to add capabilities to their offerings.

From a venture perspective, Mr. Kurkure said he sees four areas where specialized cybersecurity vendors are likely to stand out from the pack:

● Automation and machine learning for cybersecurity
● New ways of solving identity-management challenges
● Data-protection technologies, in light of regulations including the California Consumer Privacy Act, which is effective Jan. 1
● Technology to monitor supply chains and third parties

Mr. Sekhar of Norwest agrees that companies using artificial intelligence in cybersecurity are best-positioned to make an impact in 2020. However, he said, this will also prompt a higher level of scrutiny around precisely what these companies claim their technology can do. wsj.com

Travelex says its computer systems are offline following a cyberattack
Foreign exchange provider Travelex has been forced to take its computer systems offline following a cyberattack. The company said in a statement on its US website Tuesday that a "software virus" was discovered on New Year's Eve, which "compromised some of its services." Travelex said that there was "no indication that any personal or customer data has been compromised." The UK company operates across 60 countries, offering foreign exchange and payment services. cnn.com

Consumers prefer biometric authentication to traditional passwords, Visa says
Almost 70 percent of U.S. shoppers did not go through with an online purchase because they either forgot the password, couldn't log in or couldn't receive a one-time passcode, according to research conducted by Visa, while another report from Verizon found that as many as 80 percent of data breaches are caused by compromised and weak passwords. biometricupdate.com

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How FedEx and UPS's battle against Amazon is changing online retail

Carriers like UPS and FedEx are upping their prices and imposing new restrictions, and it's only the beginning of a big change for online retailers.

Both companies have introduced a new $24 fee for packages that exceed 50 pounds, reported the Wall Street Journal. This is both a lowering of the previous 70-pound threshold, as well as a raising of the price. And, as the WSJ wrote, this change would likely impact businesses and individuals who rely on these services to send out heavier items.

This change is all part of an ever-evolving shipping war with Amazon at the center. Amazon has been investing heavily into its own first-party delivery networks in an attempt to be less dependent on third parties like the United States Postal Service, UPS and FedEx. Companies, like FedEx, have broken ties with Amazon, realizing that the e-commerce giant is as much a competitor as it is a business reliant on its services. As a result, the shipping businesses operating outside of the Amazon ecosystem are being forced to rejigger their offerings to increase profits and find new logistical areas to dominate. As this war rages on, those who rely on these services - especially smaller e-commerce businesses - are consistently being bombarded with changes.

What's at the center of it all, said David Marcotte, svp of cross-border retail at Kantar Consulting, is that "starting with small independent [businesses] working your way up to medium, they're all getting squeezed." For some retailers that rely on these parcel services, the financial damage begins now. For others, they'll see the effect in the coming months and years. modernretail.co

The E in Ecommerce? In 2020, It Stands for Everywhere
Consider your last few online purchases. Yes, they were facilitated through your phone, laptop, device, or desktop, but where were you physically when you hit the "buy" button? On a break at work? In bed before turning in? During your morning commute? In a completely unrelated store?

Like you, your shoppers aren't constrained by traditional notions of retail, so if you're going to cater to their whims and needs, your business should be discoverable in all of the places they hang out. That will require leading-edge technology and a commitment to creativity and innovation.

Then, once that customer or prospect finds you, they'll want you to know something about them-especially if they've shopped with you before. More specifically, as many as 68% of consumers agree that personalized experiences are important.

Assuming you pass the personalization test, you'd best be prepared to respond to any questions or concerns. Conversational commerce, frequently fronted by automated chatbots, is driven by tailored responses to queries at all hours of the day, with an option to engage with a real person within hours.

All told, the 2020 commerce experience relies heavily on ramped up service standards. smartercx.com

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