D&D Daily Honors NRF LP Council Members at
Annual NYC Reception & Party

NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller Delivers Speech on Counter-Terrorism

LP/AP's New Year's Kickoff Event Draws Standing-Room Only Crowd

Following our successful "Live in NYC" broadcast Monday, Jan. 15th at Lord & Taylor's flagship store, featuring a jam-packed schedule of LP leaders and solution providers talking about the hot topics facing the industry, the D&D Daily hosted LP's annual new year's kickoff event at Maloney & Porcelli restaurant in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night. This year's reinvented reception/party, brought together a who's who crowd of senior retail LP/AP executives and some from the law enforcement community including John Miller, Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counter-Terrorism for the NYPD, who delivered a speech to the LP community in attendance. A well-known news commentator, Mr. Miller is the only law enforcement executive to ever interview Osama bin Laden.

In his speech Tuesday night, he talked about his journey from award-winning broadcast journalist to deputy police commissioner working under William Bratton. He explained the psychology behind terrorism, the NYPD's success in preventing numerous attacks over the years, and how "precision policing" has helped New York City reduce its crime rate to 1950s era lows, making it one of the safest major cities in the world. Miller did, however, recognize the increased violence retailers face, driven by ORC gangs and the widespread increase in credit card fraud. And how public-private partnerships like METRORCA and others throughout the country are so vital when it comes to information sharing and crime fighting.

The night was capped off with the honoring of the NRF LP Council as this year's D&D Daily "Leadership Honoree". For well over 25 years, the NRF LP Council, comprised of over 40 senior Loss Prevention and Asset Protection executives, has been focused on elevating, developing, and inspiring this industry. And while the faces have changed from generation to generation, their mission and commitment has never faltered. If anything, it's gotten stronger - which is reflected in the growth and attendance of their signature event - The NRF Protect Conference.

Former VP's of LP for the NRF, Joe LaRocca and Rich Mellor, along with current VP of LP Bob Moraca, were recognized with plaques commemorating their achievement in defining true leadership for the LP industry, inspiring the industry, and helping develop a community. Current NRF LP Council Chair Dan Faketty also accepted a commemorative plaque on behalf of the entire council itself. Each individual said a few words afterward, expressing their gratitude to the mentors and leaders who've helped make the industry what it is today, as well as the immense role the NRF LP Council has played in not only their careers but for the industry at large.

Read our full series of articles on the NRF LP Council leaders - in their own words - here.

Stay tuned for more pictures from our two-day "Live in NYC" 2018 event!
 

NRF 2018: Retail's Big Show highlights: Leadership and Innovation
Over 35,000 retailers and industry partners came to the Javits Center in New York City for NRF 2018: Retail's Big Show. Monday marked the second day of the show, with sessions highlighting innovative entrepreneurs, established brands and a range of new retail technologies. Here are some highlights.

Leadership

CEO and President Doug McMillon discussed how Walmart is bringing the digital and physical store experiences together. He was named 'The Visionary' at the NRF Foundation Gala on Sunday night.

Rock star entrepreneurs from &pizza, Museum of Ice Cream and Maveron shared their stories and discussed how they are disrupting the retail industry.

From hourly associate to CEO, John Furner discussed his climb up the ladder and how he is leading Sam's Club in a new direction.

Innovation and Technology

Apple's Jennifer Bailey predicted that mobile will be the largest commerce channel in 2021.

Pano Anthos from XRC Labs, Michelle Bacharach of FindMine, Joe Jensen from Intel and Bernd Schoner of DeepMagic rounded out a panel at The Innovation Lab, where they discussed the latest in retail AI and robotics.

The future of retail was a hot topic this year, from optimism for 2018 to what shopping will look like in 2020.

Check out the full recap of NRF 2018: Retail's Big Show here. nrf.com

Retail sales to grow 3% annually through 2021
Store openings to outpace closures
A new report by Zebra Technologies, conducted with IHL Group, projects that retail industry sales in North America and EMEA regions (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) will rise 3% annually through 2021, led by a shift to greater e-commerce/omnichannel sales volume.

The year 2017 saw more retail store openings than closures and store openings are expected to outpace closures through 2021, according to Zebra's 2017 Retail Transformation Study. IHL research estimates that the enterprise retail market (more than 50 stores) had 4,080 net stores opening through October 2017. In fact, 42% of retailers had a net increase in stores while only 15% had a net decrease. chainstoreage.com

Walmart reportedly cutting 1K corporate jobs
Walmart is reportedly cutting more than 1,000 corporate jobs, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Pink slips are expected to be handed out by the end of the company's fiscal year on Jan. 31, the sources said.

The news comes just days after the company touted plans to boost starting hourly pay to $11 an hour, among other benefits, as well as an abrupt Twitter announcement on Thursday that the company is slated to close 63 Sam's Club stores. retaildive.com

Walmart shuttering stores a bad sign of things to come for retail workers
In the midst of receiving positive press last week following an announcement that it was raising its minimum wage and offering some employees a one-time bonus, Walmart announced its plans to close 63 of its Sam's Club locations.

This is more than a bulk shopping inconvenience: Each Sam's Club store employs approximately 175 individuals, so about 11,000 jobs are affected by this decision. Walmart said that 10 of the closing locations would be converted to e-commerce fulfillment centers, leaving many wondering: How should we interpret this action and what implications does it hold for the retail landscape?

From a strategic standpoint, this move complements Walmart's continued efforts to position itself as a viable competitor in the online retail space against the likes of Amazon.com (not long ago, Walmart acquired local delivery company Parcel to better compete with Amazon in the New York City market) and against other brick-and-mortar rivals, like Target.

On the other hand, this e-commerce move suggests that Walmart may be placing less emphasis on wholesale operations, where it competes with retailers like Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club.

Using Walmart as our most recent example, this announcement does not bode well for employees working at retail locations. 2017 saw approximately 7,000 retail store closures, and this major announcement suggests 2018 will prove a similarly difficult year as retailers reconfigure their assets to address changing consumer purchasing patterns.

Given distribution center operations require far fewer workers to fulfill the same volume of demand, there is little chance that frontline employees will be absorbed by the retailers for whom they work if their locations are shuttered. thehill.com

Walmart, Jewel-Osco join list of retailers taking steps to curb opioid epidemic
Walmart and Jewel-Osco are joining the list of retailers making efforts to address the nation's opioid epidemic.

The world's largest retailer said it wants to limit abuse of prescription opioids by making it easier for patients to dispose of leftover drugs. Meanwhile, Jewel-Osco is making opioid overdose antidote Narcan available to purchase over the counter, the company announced Tuesday.

Walmart pharmacies will provide patients free packets of a product that when combined with leftover medications and warm water in a pill bottle forms a biodegradable gel that can be safely tossed in the trash since the drugs can't be extracted for abuse, according to manufacturer DisposeRx. chicagotribune.com

As Sam's Club downsizes, BJ's moves to fill the void
BJ's Wholesale wasted no time trying to capitalize on Walmart's decision to shrink its Sam's Club division, announcing special offers for Sam's Club members the day of Walmart's announcement, directing laid off Sam's employees to BJ's application portal. retaildive.com

Verisk's CargoNet Business Aligns with 7PSolutions to Help Clients Combat Cargo Theft
CargoNet, a Verisk business and the nation's leader in cargo theft recovery, intelligence, and analytics, and 7PSolutions (7P), a global leader in GPS supply chain management tools, jointly announced today that they will work together to aid mutual clients in reducing cargo theft and recovering stolen cargo.

This alliance will benefit the two organizations' customers by providing access to a best-in-class, layered approach to reducing cargo theft risk. The combination of 7P's real-time GPS technology with CargoNet's 24/7/365 recovery support center, expansive law enforcement communication platform, and cargo theft data can significantly increase the likelihood of recovery after a theft. nasdaq.com

New York Governor Takes Aim at Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
New York employers should expect proposals to "combat sexual harassment in the workplace" in the 2018-2019 Executive Budget or as standalone proposals, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in his 2018 State of the State address on Jan. 3.

Cuomo said his anti-harassment proposals will include legislation that will:

● Prevent taxpayer funds from being used in settlements against individuals relating to sexual assault and harassment.

● Create a uniform code of sexual harassment policies that will be binding on state and local government employers.

● Create an anonymous whistleblower process for state and local government employees.

● Void arbitration policies or clauses in employee contracts that prevent sexual harassment cases from consideration in law enforcement investigation and court trials.

The anti-harassment proposals also will include legislation prohibiting confidentiality agreements relating to sexual harassment and assault from all public entities and branches of government, unless it is the victim's express preference.

Further, they will require all New York companies to conduct annual reporting on the number of sexual harassment violations and nondisclosure agreements executed by the company. shrm.org

70K Women Dropped From Sterling Jewelers Sex Bias Class
A New York federal judge ruled Monday that a class of women accusing Sterling Jewelers Inc. of gender discrimination did not cover an estimated 70,000 workers who did not opt to join the suit, overturning an arbitrator's decision and shrinking the class size to "several hundred" people.

More than a dozen named employees had filed suit in March 2008 alleging Sterling discriminated against female workers by paying them less than men and passing them over for promotions. The suit was sent to arbitration months later and has bounced between arbitration and federal courts, including the Supreme Court, which in March 2012 declined to review the July 2011 circuit order. law360.com

Nowadays, Counterfeit Goods are "Almost Identical" to the Real Thing
The days of slightly off-kilter fakes found on New York's Canal Street are gone. "We are now at the point where the fakes are almost identical to the real ... where they are almost 99 percent identical." That was the central theme of a recent video posted by Antonio Linares on his Instagram account, Fake Education. The message echoes a markedly controversial one put forth a couple of years ago by Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma, who said, "The problem is the fake products today are of better quality and better price than the real names."

Speaking to state of counterfeit goods - those that utilize a trademark that is "identical with, or substantially indistinguishable from" a genuine registered trademark and that is used on the same class of goods as the registered mark - Ma elaborated, saying, "They are made in exactly the same factories, with exactly the same raw materials [as authentic goods], but they do not use the names."

Brands - ranging from mainstream entities like Ugg and adidas to luxury brands, such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton - have spent decades and hefty amounts of money in waging the unending the battle against counterfeits. This fight has proven especially frustrating in the digital age, when counterfeit-selling websites have saturated the web. And when one - or even a few - of these counterfeit-hawking sites are removed as a result of legal proceedings, several others pop up in their places almost instantaneously, prompting many to liken such efforts to the game of Whac-a-Mole.

All the while, the operators of these websites walk away scot-free, since the sites, themselves, are routinely registered using fake names and hidden behind various layers of fictitious contact information, and as a result, when lawsuits are filed, there is no one to hold accountable. thefashionlaw.com

Forever 21 Dodges Discovery, Gets Tax Class Action Tossed

Aetna Investors Sue Over $77B Merger With CVS

Burger King, Supermarket Hit With ADA Suits Over Websites

Department store retailer, Bon-Ton Stores, reportedly closer to bankruptcy

Wegmans announces opening date for Natick Mall location

Fraud Doubles in Two Years to Hit 700m Attempts
The volume of global fraud attacks has surged 100% over the past two years to reach 700 million in 2017 alone, according to ThreatMetrix.

In its ThreatMetrix Cybercrime Report 2017: A Year in Review it claims that fraudsters are moving away from using stolen credit and debit cards as these have a relatively short shelf life. Account creation attacks, carried out using a collection of stolen identity data, are now becoming more popular, with more than one-in-nine of all new accounts opened last year fraudulent.

Automated bots are also becoming an increasingly popular way for fraudsters to test stolen identities, in order to increase their value on the dark web, or else to hijack existing accounts or open new ones.

EMEA continues to be a hotbed for fraud, accounting for around 50% of all attacks spotted by ThreatMetrix last year. It also experienced an 80% increase in automated bot attacks.

As always, the continued deluge of data breach incidents is fueling the rise in global fraud, with spikes in fraud levels clearly linked to major incidents. ThreatMetrix claimed to have spotted "unprecedented spikes in irregular behavior" immediately after the Equifax breach.

With data breach incidents now becoming commonplace, the focus should be on protecting downstream fraud so that leaked data can't be used by online scammers, ThreatMetrix argued. infosecurity-magazine.com

What are CISOs Worried About in 2018?
Data Breaches and the Human Factor, Survey Finds
A recent Ponemon Institute survey of 612 chief information security officers (CISOs) and other information security professionals, conducted in November and December 2017, sought to examine key concerns and opinions of CISOs and CIOs focused on information security and cyber risk in 2018. Perhaps unsurprisingly, cyber risk and data breaches remain key concerns of CISOs at a time when high-profile data breaches continue to pose a threat to various industries, including healthcare.

However, the survey findings indicate that the "human factor", and human error, are some of the biggest worries keeping CISOs awake at night. When asked which threats they worry most about in 2018, 70 percent of CISO respondents cited "lack of competent in-house staff" as the number one concern, followed by data breaches (66 percent), cyber attacks (59 percent), inability to reduce employee negligence (54 percent) and ransomware (48 percent). Other top concerns include potential breach due to unsecured IoT devices in the workplace, cited by 47 percent of respondents; a third-party data breach (42 percent), inadequate budget (34 percent) and inability to reduce malicious insider risk (25 percent).

The survey also found that 37 percent of CISOs and other security leaders believe that their organization's cybersecurity posture will improve in 2018, while another 37 percent stated that the cybersecurity posture will stay at about the same level. healthcare-informatics.com

Spurred by Bitcoin Appreciation, Financially Motivated Attacks Surge
According to Radware's 2017-2018 Global Application and Network Security Report, 50% of surveyed companies have experienced a cyber-attack motivated by ransom in the past year. As the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies - often the preferred form of payment among hackers - has appreciated, ransom attacks provide an opportunity for hackers to cash out for lucrative gains months later.

"The rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies and their subsequent rise in price has presented hackers with a clear upside that goes beyond cryptocurrencies' anonymity," said Carl Herberger, vice president of security solutions at Radware. "Paying a hacker in these situations not only incentivizes further attacks, but it provides criminals with the vital funds they need to continue their operations."

The number of companies that reported ransomware attacks surged in the past year, increasing 40% from the 2016 survey. Companies don't expect this threat to go away in 2018 either: One in four executives (26%) sees ransom as the largest threat to their business sector in the coming year. infosecurity-magazine.com

World Economic Forum: Cyber-Attacks Third Most Likely Global Risk in 2018

Only Half of UK Firms Have Cloud Security Policy

BlackBerry in Motion: Firm Aims to Secure Cars From Hackers

Visa Pilots Biometrics Payments Card

End of a retail era: Sears Canada closes remaining stores
The few remaining Sears Canada stores closed their doors for good on Sunday. The longtime staple of Canada's retail landscape declared bankruptcy last year and announced in the fall that it would liquidate its remaining stores, leaving 15,000 people out of work. Sales began in October, and only a fraction of the retailer's locations across Canada remained open to the bitter end. financialpost.com financialpost.com

Pot delivered straight to your home?
P.E.I. government announces retail model and rules for recreational cannabis
The government of Prince Edward Island says it will operate four government-owned retail locations for recreational cannabis and allow online orders for home delivery. Finance Minister Heath MacDonald made the announcement as part of a list of measures being taken by the Island's Liberal government in advance of the legalization of recreational cannabis later this year. The retail locations will be in Charlottetown, Summerside, Montague and West Prince. ctvnews.ca

Moneris partners with Kount to expand fraud protection services for Canadian online businesses
TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2018 /CNW/ - Moneris Solutions Corporation ("Moneris"), Canada's largest processor of debit and credit payments, today announced their partnership with Kount, an online fraud protection platform that assesses customer transactions in real time. The Moneris Kount partnership will allow large businesses using the Moneris Gateway to reduce fraud exposure and chargeback risks from online and in-app transactions. businessinsider.com

KFC Is Now Accepting Bitcoin for Buckets of Fried Chicken

Solution Providers: Have a video or commercial you want to publish? Contact us 

Found on Instagram, sold on Alibaba
Even the smallest brands are now the victims of counterfeiting
Team Dream is a small business by most any measure.

The quirky cycling apparel brand has just five employees. It produces only about 100 pieces of each garment and operates out of a converted gas station in San Marino, where a closet-sized nook doubles as both a fulfillment center and R&D lab.

So it came as a shock one day to learn that Team Dream clothing was being counterfeited and sold on a major Chinese e-commerce site.

But there it was, a cheaper facsimile of Team Dream's U.S.-made $135 "Thin Stripe Long Sleeve" jersey for sale on Taobao, China's premier online shopping site owned by Alibaba, for about half the price.

The seller, a store named Gentleman Racing Club, made only the slightest changes: removing Team Dream's chubby bobcat logo and stamping GRC on the back. Its page, which Alibaba removed after talking to The Times, even included one of Team Dream's Instagram photos of a cyclist wearing the jersey on Highway 2 in Angeles National Forest (Gentleman Racing Club did not respond to a request for an interview).

Just a decade ago, relative anonymity would have shielded a company as small as Team Dream from counterfeiting. But in the era of Instagram and global e-commerce, obscurity is no longer an option - and anyone is fair game.

"Anything to make a buck," Bruce Foucart, former director of the U.S. government's National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, said of counterfeiters. "If there's a niche, they will know about it."

Small brands often lack the means to tackle counterfeiters, Foucart added. Even corporate behemoths such as Apple struggle to rein in the black market for its devices in China.

No place is better suited to exploit young brands than China, the origin of 85% of the world's counterfeit goods. With its state-of-the-art manufacturing infrastructure, Chinese producers can mimic all manner of apparel with relative ease. The rise of Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, AliExpress and DHgate has made finding a counterfeit item almost as easy as shopping on Amazon. latimes.com

Click, Tap, Buy: Holiday Shoppers Spent Record Amount Online
Online holiday sales increase almost 15% in 2017
Shoppers spent a record amount online during the holiday season.

That's according to Adobe Analytics, which reports online shopping during the holiday season reached $108.2 billion, up almost 15 percent from $94.4 billion the year before. The research arm of software maker Adobe says more than a third of online holiday revenue came from purchases made on smartphones or tablets. nytimes.com

Follett Disrupts Collegiate Campus eCommerce With $50 Million Technology Investment

Amazon accounted for 18% of U.S. online grocery sales in 2017

Consumers want to find what they're looking for, and say online shipping should be quick and free

Fort Myers, FL: Men steal $250,000 in electronics from Verizon store;
Arrested after high-speed chase
Before leading authorities on a high-speed chase on Interstate 75 and getting arrested early Sunday morning, three men robbed a cellphone store and made off with a quarter-million dollars in electronics, according to police. The spree began Sunday at 3:51 a.m. when Fort Myers police officers responded to an alarm at a Verizon Wireless. Officers found a rear door to the business open and some roof damage when they arrived. They also noticed multiple cell phones, tablets and accessories had been removed from shelves and a storage room, the release states. Fort Myers police went to the scene and took custody of the truck and loads of stolen iPhones, Android smartphones, tablets and electronic accessories. According to the agency, the men stole $250,000 in merchandise from the store. naplesnews.com

Brooklyn, NY: Ice cream theft spree forces Walgreens to stop selling some brands
Bandits steal pints, resell them to bodegas and smaller grocery stores
Ice cream bandits have been plaguing New York City for years, and one trio went so far as to steal 1,126 pints and 123 ice cream bars from pharmacies across Manhattan in 2016. The sticky-fingered bandits were probably not about to go on an epic binge, Dowling explained on NPR, but more likely executing a profitable, if illegal, business plan.  "They then take that ice cream that they stole," said Dowling. "They bring it to bodegas and smaller grocery stores." The bodega owners will pay as much as 25 cents on the dollar for the $5 pints, Dowling said. patch.com

Carlisle, PA: Walmart employee under-rang merchandise
for two retail theft suspects
Police have charged a juvenile Walmart employee and a woman with retail theft following an investigation that began in November in Carlisle. The investigation determined an employee had been under-ringing merchandise for two women over the course of a two-month period, according to police. Police said one of the women, identified as Candice Panell, also used the self-checkout registers and didn't scan all of her merchandise on separate occasions.  pennlive.com

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Feedback: Giving and Receiving Criticism Like a Champ
 

Being a Great Leader Means Giving and Receiving Feedback
How do you react when someone wants to give you feedback? Do you feel nervous? Anxious? Does your stomach tighten? The best leaders ask for more feedback, and follow these rules for giving and receiving feedback. All in the response

Surprising Harvard Research Says Giving Negative Feedback to Peers Won't Work (Unless You Do 1 Simple Thing)
Harvard researchers say that we've got it all wrong on how we're giving negative feedback to others. The study showed that peer-to-peer negative feedback rarely lead to improvement, unless this simple thing happened first. Power of value

Effective Employee Feedback is Given Often
Most people wait until yearly reviews to give feedback, but doing so only on an annual basis can cause challenges for both the giver and the receiver of feedback. Giving frequent feedback is beneficial for everyone. Here's why it works. Reinforce and Redirect

How to Handle Feedback You Don't Agree With
When we receive feedback, there will be times when we don't agree with what the other person said. We anticipate that our performance or our work will be received positively, so when we're met with pushback it's natural to get frustrated. In this podcast, learn the art form to handling these situations. Balancing act

Submit Your Group LP Selfie Today!

For all the people that complain about never catching up and always say I'll never catch up - I've got so much to do and seem like they're carrying the world on their shoulders. All I have to say is - If You ever catch up they'll catch up to you. And then you're done. So thank the lord you've got so much to do because somebody right behind you is waiting for you to slip.

From a guy who's been nipped at my whole career and even bitten a few times - Oh well - it keeps you running.

Just a Thought,
Gus

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