NRF 2024: Retail Big Show Back in the Big Apple

NRF 2024 is taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Check back here for latest blog posts, event photos, video highlights and press coverage from NRF 2024 as they become available throughout the show.

NRF 2024 Presentation Spotlight
Making supply chains smarter for everyone

NRF 2024: FedEx CEO and President Raj Subramaniam on delivering what consumers expect anytime, anywhere

In a presentation at NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show, FedEx CEO and President Raj Subramaniam explained his company's strategy and its expanding role in the present and future of consumer/vendor relations. He was joined onstage by Sara Eisen, co-anchor of "Closing Bell" on CNBC.

Subramaniam began with some arithmetic. Online retail sales are expected to reach an annual total of $8 trillion by 2026, he said, a sum that will be laid out by the world's 4 billion consumers.

"You're all here because you want to take a larger share of that $8 trillion," he said. "You want to reach those 4 billion consumers and turn them into loyal customers. And you want to optimize your supply chain end-to-end and deliver a better, seamless ecommerce experience."

FedEx was founded on the belief that innovation can solve problems, Subramaniam said. "Fifty years ago, we didn't just start a company. We launched an industry. We built the network that connects this world. And when you deliver millions of packages in 220 countries and territories every day, you gain knowledge about the global supply chain."

Read full article here | Read more articles here | Watch video clips here
 

The Epicenters of the Theft Epidemic Finally Start to Fight Back
California and New York To Crack Down on Retail Theft in 2024
In an announcement this week, the governors of California and New York revealed plans to combat retail crime, while trade associations and police departments advocate for government intervention to address the issue, reports CNBC.

Included in the plan is new legislation crafted to give harsher penalties for retail crime offenses and additional funding to district attorney's offices and police departments to help them crack down on these crimes.

As voters of both states highlighted this issue as one of their biggest concerns, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who represent the country's biggest Democratic strongholds, have reacted and made retail theft a high priority in the lineup to the 2024 elections.

New laws have been passed in at least nine states since 2022 that impose bigger penalties for organized retail crime offenses. California and New York could now be added to the list of these states taking more action on this matter. Retailers and trade associations across the nation have been trying to get bills written and passed.

During her State of the State address on Tuesday, Hochul outlined plans to propose legislation establishing criminal penalties for online marketplaces and third-party sellers involved in selling stolen goods. As part of her initiative, she aims to establish two task forces: one dedicated to building cases against organized retail theft rings and another focused on addressing "smash-and-grab" robberies.

Speaking for California on Wednesday, Newsom said the state will invest $1.1 billion over the course of the next four years to address "safety and security." According to his office, $373.5 million of the investment will be allocated to cracking down on organized retail theft.  retailwire.com

   RELATED: New York and California make retail theft a 2024 priority


Backlash to New York Governor's 'Toothless' Shoplifting Crackdown
Opinion: Why Gov. Hochul's plan to end shoplifting is a rip-off
The sight of police on a subway platform is reassuring. Cheap merchandise under plastic shields is the opposite of reassuring. Its message is that we have no police, so stores must resort to primitive protective remedies more common in the developing world. Here comes the flash mob, in your face at any hour!

Big Apple retail theft incidents jumped 64% since mid-2019, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. Stores statewide lost $4.4 billion to "organized" shoplifting teams alone in 2022, reports the Retail Council of New York State lobbying organization,

But no one who listened to Gov. Hochul's toothless denunciation of shoplifting in her State of the State Address this week would find in it anything but total abdication of responsibility. Hochul's strategy includes a state police "Smash and Grab Enforcement Unit;" dedicated funding for district attorneys to pay for more enforcement and prosecution and a statewide Law Enforcement Joint Operation on retail theft to "coordinate the responses of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors."

But they're a joke as long as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg continues to prosecute employees who defend themselves against shoplifters rather than shoplifters themselves. Little will be achieved as long as nobody's guilty "bail reform" legislation remains in place.

Hochul's "crackdown," feeble as it is, might not even make it through the leftist- and Democratic-dominated state Legislature. It rejected similar proposals last year. The governor herself vetoed a 2023 proposal to set up a task force to study the matter because it would supposedly cost too much.

Until Hochul, Mayor Adams, and prosecutors and judges get serious about arresting and prosecuting brazen thieves, stores will continue to display their "we've-give-up" message. nypost.com

   Related Opinion: More enforcement, not a silly task force, will stop NY retail crime


Lawmakers Urge Passage of the 'Combating Organized Retail Crime Act'
One co-sponsor said 'it will be very difficult to pass the bill before the end of the session'

Retail Pirates Don't Fear Store Workers or the Law. Enough.
If you watch cable news or follow social media, you've seen clips of modern-day pirates captured on security cameras. It's not the theft alone that concerns the public, so much as the fact that criminals know they are being recorded on video and don't care.

All you have to do is walk into a big-box outlet, supermarket or other business where products are displayed under lock and key to understand that retailers can't market their wares as they used to.

When people have to find a clerk to unlock their purchases, Rep. Dina Titus offered, they're going to shop online, and both large and small retailers will fail.

One measure to fight these crimes -- the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 -- has bipartisan support, with 57 Republicans and 48 Democrats signed on as co-sponsors. Reps. Susie Lee and Steven Horsford, D-Nev., have joined Titus in supporting the bill.

Even though there is no vocal opposition to the measure, Titus thinks it will be very difficult to pass the bill before the end of the session. In an election year, she said, neither side wants to give the other a win.

A spokesperson for the bill's author, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., however, informed me his office is optimistic it will get moved.

This bill has little visible opposition. It is aimed at organized crime and likely will save American consumers money. Retail staffers feel threatened, while some who challenge thieves risk losing their jobs. Wouldn't it be nice to see Washington act before a bad situation gets even worse?  creators.com


First LA, Now San Francisco: Hundreds of License Plate Readers Coming
San Francisco Mayor Approves 400 New License Plate Readers to Deter Crime
Mayor London N. Breed has taken a firm stand on crime by installing 400 high-tech eyes on the streets of San Francisco.

On Thursday, the city's chief signed off on new legislation that grants the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) the power to start mounting Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) across the city, a move aimed at tightening the grip on public safety.

These devices, funded by a $17.3 million state retail theft grant, are part of a broad strategy to combat organized retail theft-problems that have plagued the city's stores and streets.

This financial injection doesn't just fund the ALPRs; it also extends to crucial hardware and crime-fighting muscle-aiming at curtailing theft rings and the rampant theft of catalytic converters.

"Implementing this technology as quickly as possible will provide a powerful deterrent for criminal activity," District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told SF.gov.

The numbers spell out a clear narrative of effectiveness: from late November to the New Year, the final figures for 2023 reflected a significant downturn in crime. Larceny thefts were slashed by 48%, car theft by 17%, and break-ins by 26%. It seems that the city's investment in what Police Chief Bill Scott calls a "force-multiplier" may to further bolster these falling crime rates. Scott said in a statement obtained by SF.gov, "These cameras will be helping our hard-working officers to identify vehicles used in crimes and to apprehend offenders more quickly and precisely."  hoodline.com

   Click here to read last week's reporting about LAPD's ALPR push


Bay Area Retailers Continue to Crack Down
California retail stores lock up underwear as Newsom vows crackdown on rampant retail crime surge

Target and Walmart stores in the San Francisco Bay Area have reportedly started to lock up underwear and socks

Several retail stores from different corners of the country have kept beauty, hygiene, and cleaning products on lockdown in recent years, but the effort to limit the loss of goods to theft is reportedly making its way into the clothing department in some Golden State stores, according to a report from one local outlet.

In an effort to prevent the loss of additional merchandise, some Target and Walmart stores in the San Francisco Bay Area have locked up underwear and socks, frustrating customers who have to wait for assistance to receive their desired undergarments.

Retail crime continues to rise across the U.S., and last month it was at the center of a congressional hearing. The House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence held a hearing titled "From Festive Cheer to Retail Fear: Addressing Organized Retail Crime" on December 12. Subcommittee Chair August Pfluger, R-Texas, blamed "soft-on-crime policies" for the problematic trend in a statement announcing the hearing. foxbusiness.com

   RELATED: Bay Area stores locking up underwear & socks to prevent theft


In Case You Missed It

Tops Friendly Markets Mass Shooter Faces Federal Death Penalty
Justice Dept. to seek death penalty for Buffalo mass killer

Payton Gendron, 20, is facing federal charges for fatally shooting 10 Black people in a racist attack in 2022

Federal prosecutors on Friday announced plans to seek the death penalty for Payton Gendron, a White man who fatally shot 10 Black people in a racist rampage at a Buffalo grocery store in May 2022. Authorities gave notice in a court filing ahead of a status conference hearing planned in the afternoon at the Robert H. Jackson federal courthouse in Buffalo.

Gendron, 20, faces federal charges on hate crimes and weapons violations for the massacre at the Tops Friendly Markets. He already is serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to New York state murder charges in November 2022. Defense attorneys have said he would plead guilty to the federal counts if prosecutors elected to forgo the death penalty.  washingtonpost.com

   Read more about the Buffalo mass shooter case in the D&D Daily's 'Breaking News Alert'


Why Oakland missed out on millions of dollars that could have helped curb retail theft

Minneapolis hardware store owner struggles with theft amid cold weather

Dollar General, site of race-motivated mass shooting, reopens

Attacks Against Cargo Ships Continue - Retailers & Consumers Can Be Impacted

U.S. & UK Strike Houthi But They Continue to Target Commercial Vessels
Houthi attacks continue as US cargo ship hit in defiance of strikes on Yemen

Gibraltar Eagle vessel not seriously damaged in assault that raises some doubts over efficacy of UK-US action

The Iran-backed Houthi militia group has continued to attack commercial shipping, hitting an American-owned container ship with a ballistic missile in defiance of a wave of US and UK strikes on Yemen.

The strike against the Marshall Islands-flagged Gibraltar Eagle container ship represented a widening of the theatre of war beyond the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The strike hit the cargo hold of the ship and while it was thought to have caused no major damage, will add to fears that the US and UK strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen have not degraded the militia group's ability to threaten commercial shipping.

Qatar became the latest major user of container ships to announce it will not send liquid gas through the Red Sea for the foreseeable future. The level of traffic was said to have dropped markedly overall since the US and UK strikes on Thursday.

The Houthis, an Iranian-backed Shia group that has been battling for control of Yemen for more than 20 years, say the more than 30 attacks on commercial shipping over the past six weeks are part of an effort to put pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. theguardian.com


Consumers Could Be Impacted By the Attacks
How Attacks in the Red Sea Could Increase Costs of Items from Clothing to Coffee
Attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea by the Houthi militia in Yemen are leading to increased freight costs and delivery times-and experts say the impact is soon going to hit consumers.

Several of the world's largest shipping firms-including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC)- have suspended shipping through the Red Sea trade route amidst the continued attacks.

"Our expectation is that within the next couple of weeks, you will begin to see the impact of this disturbance in the supply chain, either through shortages, price increases, or shrinkflation," says Marco Forgione, the Director General at The Institute of Export & International Trade.

Though the issue might seem confined to shipping companies now, experts say that consumers around the world should be prepared for changes in the market in the next few weeks- whether it be price increases, "shrinkflation"-in which the size of a product decreases but its price remains the same-or a lack of availability of everyday goods. time.com

   RELATED: Houthis, Undeterred by Strikes, Target More Ships in Red Sea


Retailers Continue to Embrace AI

More Media Coverage of AI's Impact at the Checkout
At Sam's Club, a Human Will No Longer Check Your Receipt at the Door

Instead, artificial intelligence technology will scan carts, the company says, eliminating annoying bottlenecks at the exit.

Buying things in bulk at wholesale retailers can be an all-day affair. Sam's Club, the store chain owned by Walmart, is trying to make that time shorter: by using artificial intelligence to scan shoppers' carts so they no longer have to show a receipt at the exit upon checking out.

According to a video presented by Walmart executives, Sam's Club will now have customers go through a gate-like portal rather than having an employee stand at the door and check individual receipts - an innovation that Ms. Crozier described as reimagining the future of retail. The portal is equipped with what Walmart said in a news release was "computer vision and digital technology" to verify purchases.

The technology is currently at 10 locations, but Ms. Crozier told the audience that the company hoped to make the change at all of its roughly 600 locations by the end of the year. nytimes.com


AI for Customer Experience & Employee Assistance
How Walmart is Embracing AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling Walmart to move from being an omnichannel retailer to an adaptive one, at least according to Anshu Bhardwaj, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Walmart Global Technology and Walmart Commerce Technologies, who spoke at a session during the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City earlier this week.

An example of being an adaptive retailer is Walmart's Text to Shop service experience, Bhardwaj said, which allows mobile consumers across both iOS and Android devices to text Walmart the items they want to purchase from either their local store or Walmart.com, or easily reorder items for pickup, delivery or shipping.

Another example Bhardwaj shared was how Walmart is using generative AI to help customers search for products by specific use cases. For example, when planning a Super Bowl party, consumers can simply type "plan a Super Bowl party" into the Walmart app or website.

AI is not only improving the customer experience at Walmart, but it's also helping the retailer's employees, noted Bhardwaj. mytotalretail.com


Several States Declare Emergencies Over Cold Temps
Biting Cold Sweeping U.S. Hits the South With an Unfamiliar Freeze

In Texas, where a 2021 storm killed 246 people and knocked out electricity for millions, officials urged residents to conserve power.

Extreme weather gripped large parts of the Southern United States on Monday, with ice and snow hampering plans to commemorate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, and several governors declaring states of emergency.

Communities generally unaccustomed to major winter storms, from Tennessee to Texas, canceled or postponed events honoring Dr. King. nytimes.com


Retail employment in December reaches highest level since 2019

Last Sears in NY area shutting down - 12 stores remain of world's once-biggest retailer

All Showfields stores closed for good on Saturday
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Senior Manager, Field AP job posted for lululemon in New York City, NY
You will lead the most complex and important business unit at lululemon. North America is essential to the financial health of lululemon and is also the largest employee base in the company. You will build the vision and shape the future of asset protection and safety in a market that is critical to the success of our team and the business overall. It is also a market that has multi-layered challenges (unprecedented weather risk, organized retail crime, active threat/shooter trends, political and social unrest) unlike anywhere else in retail. careers.lululemon.com
 

Last week's #1 article --

'Shoplifters Unite!'
Ominous flyer urges criminals to ransack DC grocery store, 'take everything that's not nailed down'
Washington, D.C.'s crime spiral took a new turn this week when a flyer calling for shoplifters to "unite" and ransack a local grocery store was discovered outside a vacant building in Columbia Heights, a report shows.

"Shoplifters unite! Take everything that's not nailed down. Bust windows," the flyer stated, calling on people to reportedly ransack a Safeway location in the city, according to Fox 5 DC.

The flyer was found on an empty storefront window on Irving Street NW, according to the outlet. The outlet did not post the flyer's message in its entirety, as it is unclear who posted the flyer and if their intentions to ransack the Safeway are legitimate.

"I think it's a bunch of crap," one Safeway shopper told FOX 5 of the flyer. "That's what I think. You know, I see people come in this Safeway right here, and I see them take stuff and steal. You know, I don't say anything, but you know the guard is right there. He sees it too, and he don't do anything."  nypost.com

Powerful Info-Stealer Targeting Windows
Windows SmartScreen bug exploited to deliver powerful info-stealer
A vulnerability (CVE-2023-36025) that Microsoft fixed in November 2023 continues to be exploited by malware peddlers: this time around, the delivered threat is a variant of the Phemedrone Stealer.

Phemedrone Stealer is a piece of malware written in C#, with no dependencies. It's capable of: Collecting system information (hardware, OS, geolocation) and making screenshots; Gathering all data contained in the targed device's memory; Grabbing user files from specific folders (e.g., Documents, Desktop); Grabbing cookies, passwords, and autofills from Chromium-based browsers (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Brave, etc.) and Gecko-based browsers (e.g., Firefox); Extracting sensitive data from password and authenticator apps via extensions installed on Chromium-based browsers; Grabbing Discord authentication tokens and files related to Steam and Telegram authentication-related files; Extracting files from popular cryptocurrency wallet apps; Capturing connection details and credentials for FileZilla (a free FTP solution).

Microsoft released fixes for CVE-2023-36025 on November 2023 Patch Tuesday and warned at the time that the vulnerability was already being leveraged in attacks in the wild. helpnetsecurity.com


D.C. Dragging Feet on AI Regulations
AI threats loom over cautious Congress
Wide-ranging risks created by artificial intelligence (AI) loom over a Congress that appears cautious to regulate as lawmakers head into a monumental election year.

After a year filled with hearings and forums discussing the risks and benefits of AI as the technology expands into critical sectors, experts say it is time for Congress to act - while some warn lawmakers are already behind.

"If there's no action before the end of this Congress, I think there's going to be a perception that they failed," said Dewey Murdick, executive director at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.  "It's going be a super tough year to do anything, but I think the pressure is on pretty high to do something."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), leader of the chamber's bipartisan working group on AI, has avoided setting a timeline for expected AI legislation. The leader initially promised new AI rules would take "months," not "years" in June when the AI working group outlined its approach to crafting regulations.

But when Congress left at the end of last year, lawmakers hadn't moved on any proposals put forward on AI rules. thehill.com


Hacks Could Cause 'Significant Impacts on Financial System'
SEC X Account Hack Draws Senate Outrage

Senators from both parties called the Securities and Exchange Commission's lack of MFA "inexcusable" and demand investigation into the regulator's cybersecurity lapse.

Following the Securities and Exchange Commission's X account, formerly known as Twitter, compromise on Jan. 9, two Senators have issued a statement calling the hack "inexcusable" and urging the Inspector General of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the regulator's failure to have basic multifactor authentication (MFA) protections in place.

"Additionally, a hack resulting in the publication of material information for investors could have significant impacts on the stability of the financial system and trust in public markets, including potential market manipulation," Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. said in a statement. "We urge you to investigate the agency's practices related to the use of MFA, and in particular, phishing-resistant MFA, to identify any remaining security gaps that must be addressed." darkreading.com


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