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Sears Holdings Asset & Profit Protection Associates Receive LPF Scholarships
Sears Holdings, in partnership with the The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) today awarded 5 Sears Holdings Asset & Profit Protection Associates scholarships designed to support their career advancement and personal development while working at SHC. Sears Holdings takes great pleasure in every opportunity to invest in the development of their teams.

SHC awarded the scholarships for certification-review courses and the final exams, for both LPCertified (LPC) and LPQualified (LPQ), which will earn them a widely-recognized certification within the loss prevention industry.

Scott Glenn, Vice President and CSO noted: "It is a tremendous honor to be able to invest in the future leaders of our industry. The Associates selected for these scholarships are the future of our organization and I am proud of each of them".

Congratulations to the following recipients of the LPQualified (LPQ) and LPCertified (LPC) Scholarships:

  ● Nick Cranfill - Zone Manager, Asset Protection
  ● Jim Kralik - Market Manager, Asset Protection
  ● Casey Jones - Manager, Asset Protection
  ● Amanda Campanian - Zone Manager, Asset Protection
  ● Jessica Quigley - Investigations Specialist, Asset Protection  yourlpf.org

Nike President Resigns As Company Looks Into Workplace Behavior Issues
No. 2 Executive, a potential successor to CEO, to retire in August
Nike Inc. said it had received complaints about inappropriate workplace behavior and that its No. 2 executive has resigned, setting off a management shuffle at the sportswear giant.

The company said Trevor Edwards, Nike brand president and a potential successor to Chief Executive Mark Parker, will leave his position immediately and retire from the company in August.

In an internal memo to staff announcing the departure, Mr. Parker disclosed that the company in recent weeks had received reports of "behavior occurring within our organization that do not reflect our core values of inclusivity, respect and empowerment."

"We've heard from strong and courageous employees," he wrote in the memo, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Parker didn't specify the nature of the complaints or whether they involved Mr. Edwards or other executives. A Nike spokesman said there were no allegations against Mr. Edwards and declined to provide details. Mr. Edwards didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Parker said Nike was conducting a review of the company's human-resources systems and practices for elevating internal complaints. "This has been a very difficult time," he wrote. As part of the management shake-up, Mr. Parker said he now planned to remain Nike's chairman and CEO beyond 2020. wsj.com

Walmart Whistle-Blower Claims Cheating in Race With Amazon
Former exec claims retail giant issued misleading e-commerce results
In its race to catch Amazon.com Inc. in online retailing, Walmart Inc. issued misleading e-commerce results and fired an executive who complained the company was breaking the law, according to a whistle-blower lawsuit.

Tri Huynh, a former director of business development at Walmart, claims he was terminated "under false pretenses" after repeatedly raising concerns about the company's "overly aggressive push to show meteoric growth in its e-commerce business by any means possible -- even, illegitimate ones."

Under Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon, Walmart has invested billions of dollars to catch up with Amazon in e-commerce over the past few years, and last year enjoyed quarterly online sales growth rates surpassing 50 percent, well above peers that include Target Corp. and Best Buy Co.

Huynh claims Walmart mislabeled products so that some third-party vendors received lower commissions, failed to process customer returns, and allowed offensive items onto the site. Huynh's dismissal in January 2017 -- just a day after a retail-industry publication singled him out as one of the sector's rising stars -- was in retaliation for warning senior executives about the misdeeds, he said in the lawsuit filed Thursday.

"Wal-Mart sacrificed and betrayed its founder's key principles of integrity and honesty, pushing those core values aside in its rush to win the e-commerce war at all costs," Huynh said in the 70-page complaint, referring to founder Sam Walton. "In doing this, it realized it must silence any whistle-blower who spoke up against its 'win at all costs' approach."

The claims come from "a disgruntled former associate," who was let go as part of a broader workforce restructuring, said Greg Hitt, a Walmart spokesman. "We take allegations like this seriously and looked into them when they were brought to our attention. The investigation found nothing to suggest that the company acted improperly." bloomberg.com

'Impossible Position' for Corporate Fraud Gatekeepers
The recent Supreme Court whistleblower ruling is a devastating blow to defenses against corporate fraud, says an architect of the SEC whistleblower program. cfo.com

Amazon Japan offices raided in competition probe
Amazon Japan said its offices have been raided by the country's fair trade regulator on suspicion of anti-trust violations. The online retailer is suspected of asking suppliers to shoulder costs incurred for selling their products at a discount, according to media reports. The firm said it is cooperating with the investigation by Japan's Fair Trade Commission (JTFC), Reuters reported.

It's not the first time Amazon Japan has been investigated over anti-trust breaches. In 2016, JTFC raided the firm's offices on suspicions it had unfairly forced retailers to set prices on Amazon Japan as low or lower than prices for those products listed on other e-commerce sites. Regulators ended the investigation in June last year when Amazon Japan agreed to stop the practice. bbc.com

China vows to crack down on fake, inferior goods
Improving product quality and services have become common sense objectives for China's policymakers, say experts, suggesting the move will make the country a stronger manufacturing nation. China's consumer environment has improved in recent years with the strengthening of law enforcement, better quality merchandise and people's rising awareness of how to protect their rights, said experts, adding there are still serious issues that urgently need to be resolved. Producing and selling counterfeit, unsafe and inferior goods is forbidden in China, Premier Li Keqiang said during his Government Work Report on March 5 at the annual session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC). globaltimes.cn

Visa, AmEx, Others Duck Cert. in Chip Fraud Risk Suit
Retailers allege collusion during 2015's EMV liability shift
Discover, Visa, MasterCard and American Express have for now thwarted class certification in a suit alleging they colluded to shift fraud risk onto retailers during the U.S. rollout of microchip-enabled credit cards, as a New York federal judge voiced dissatisfaction with "arbitrary" proposed time periods during which the alleged actions occurred.

Discover Financial Services Inc., Visa Inc., MasterCard International Corp. and American Express Co. stand accused of simultaneously implementing nearly identical changes to their rules that shifted the costs of potentially billions of dollars in fraud-related chargebacks onto merchants that didn't have certified terminals compliant with so-called EMV - Europay, MasterCard, Visa - microchip technology by October 2015. There is also parallel multidistrict litigation.

The retailers first filed their complaint in March 2016 alleging that Discover, Visa, MasterCard and American Express violated the Sherman Act by simultaneously implementing nearly identical changes to their rules that shifted the costs of fraud-related chargebacks onto merchants without terminals that were compliant with the chip technology. law360.com

Southeastern Grocers - parent of Winn Dixie, BI-LO, and Harveys stores - begins bankruptcy process, shutters 94 stores
Southeastern Grocers is shutting down 94 stores as it begins the process of entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Jacksonville-based grocery store chain has entered into a restructuring agreement with creditors holding 80 percent of its unsecured debt due in September, it announced Thursday evening, part of entering into the court-supervised prepackaging restructuring under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. The holders of the unsecured notes will receive equity in the company.

The restructuring will cut the company's debt by $500 million, it said in a release, allowing it to invest more into the business, including remodeling stores and opening new ones. The company says that it expects to file for Chapter 11 by the end of March and emerge from the process within 90 days.

The cuts leave Southeastern Grocers with 582 stores still operating. Southeastern Grocers had about 50,000 employees as of February. bizjournals.com

LL Bean: No bonus after tough year, more jobs to be cut
L.L. Bean's sales dipped slightly over the past year, forcing the elimination of worker bonuses for the first time since 2008, but the CEO told workers on Friday that changes adopted in recent months are putting the company on a "path to a more prosperous future."

The Maine-based outdoors retailer announced annual revenue of $1.6 billion, which was nearly flat, for its fiscal year that ended on Feb. 25.

CEO Steve Smith said nearly 500 workers took advantage of a voluntary early-retirement program and that another 100 jobs will be eliminated early next month. There will be a net loss of 400 jobs after some jobs are refilled.  L.L. Bean employs 6,000 people. washingtonpost.com

Toy Makers Stare at $11 Billion Hole With Death of Toys 'R' Us
The liquidation of Toys "R" Us Inc. has sent the toy industry reeling, leaving Mattel Inc., Hasbro Inc. and other manufacturers without a large chain devoted to selling games and dolls and forcing them to scramble to secure other outlets to carry their items.

Toys "R" Us, which had more than $11 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year, is one of the retail chains that were once seen by vendors as "category killers" and have emerged as crucial checks on the power of Amazon.com Inc. Stores like Best Buy Co. and Barnes & Noble Co. provide electronics manufacturers and book publishers with vast networks of physical showrooms.

The likely death of Toys "R" Us, which early Thursday filed plans to liquidate its U.S. operations and other businesses, means the $27 billion U.S. toy industry will no longer have a national partner to showcase its wares year-round, test experimental products and find the next Shopkins or ZhuZhu Pet. wsj.com

Thousands of Snuggie owners get refund in settlement over misleading TV ads
A company that promised "buy one, get one free" deals to entice people to buy Snuggies on TV commercials is now paying out refunds to customers. And it's not because the full-length, wearable blankets were faulty. The refunds are part of a settlement Allstar Marketing Group reached with the Federal Trade Commission, which accused the company of duping customers into paying more than they expected through hidden processing and handling fees.

The FTC is now mailing out 218,254 refund checks totaling more than $7.2 million to people who bought various "buy one get one free" products marketed by Allstar. The average check will be for about $33 and is funded from the money Allstar paid to the FTC. msn.com

24 HOURS LEFT TO SAVE ON NRF CONFERENCE PASS!
Retailers, save up to $550 on a Full Conference Pass to NRF PROTECT 2018. (Offer only applies to new retailer registrations.) Savings end Saturday, March 17th at 11:59pm EST. Discount automatically applies through the registration link. REGISTER NOW

31,000 Toys 'R' Us employees: No job and no severance

Toys 'R' Us asks court to halt vendor payments

Supervalu selling 21 of 38 Farm Fresh Food stores

Baltimore: Federal Hill businesses blame crime for drop in sales

March Madness could cost employers $4 billion in productivity

INFOGRAPHIC: St. Patrick's Day In The U.S. By The Numbers


Quarterly Results
J.Jill Q4 comp's up 8.9%, net sales up 13%; full year comp's up 6.4%, net sales up 9.2%
Ulta Beauty Q4 comp's up 8.8%, net sales up 22.6%; full year comp's up 11%, net sales up 21.2%
Tiffany & Co. Q4 comp's up 3%, net sales up 9%; full year comp's flat, net sales up 4%
Kirkland's Q4 comp's up 2%, net sales up 10.5%; full year comp's up 0.3%, net sales up 6.7%
The Buckle Q4 comp's down 3.2%, net sales up 0.4%; full year comp's down 7.2%, net sales down 6.3%

Click here to register!

Theft and privacy concerns hold back Amazon Key delivery service
Amazon Key, the online retailer's in-home delivery service launched last November, is a wildly unpopular concept so far. In a recent survey, 75.9% of women said they were unwilling to use it, as did 60.9% of men - a 68.8% average for all, according to a study by InsuranceQuotes. The numbers are not much better for Prime members, with only 34.3% saying they are willing to use Amazon Key. This contrasts with 63.7% who trust Amazon in general, versus 53% for Google and 27.9% for Facebook.

Almost 80% said they are afraid that Amazon Key couriers will steal something from their homes (80.4% of women and 78.4% of men). A breach of privacy is another major concern (76.9% of women said so and 69.9% of men), as well as malicious exploitation of Amazon Key (61.8% of women and 56.2% of men).

Amazon Key is intended to help solve a big problem for the retailer, as more than 20% of Americans had a delivered package stolen. The number is greater for Prime members, who tend to order more frequently from Amazon. retaildive.com

Hackers Behind Prilex POS Malware Using Stolen Data To Make Functional Cards
Kaspersky Lab, the security company, announced Thursday (March 15) that researchers have discovered the hacking group behind the Prilex point-of-sale (POS) malware can use stolen credit card data to create functional plastic cards.

In a press release, Kaspersky said the malware, which is operating in Latin America, is notable because it has a supportive, user-friendly model that enables hackers to launch attacks with ease. Prilex has evolved to target smart chip- and PIN-protected payment cards, noted Kaspersky. pymnts.com

World's largest online supermarket unveils fraud-busting AI for grocery sales
Ocado Technology, the technology division of Ocado - the world's largest online only supermarket - has unveiled the world's first AI-based fraud detection system for online grocery purchases.

The new system relies on an advanced machine learning algorithm developed by Hatfield-based Ocado Technology using TensorFlow and the power of Google Cloud.

The system is part of the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP), an end-to-end solution designed to power all aspects of a retailer's e-commerce business. OSP has been licensed by multiple grocers worldwide, including Morrisons in the UK, Groupe Casino in France and Sobeys in Canada.

Online fraud typically covers any instance where an order is delivered but not paid for. Fraud can happen as a result of a genuine mistake (a customer entering the wrong personal details or using an expired card accidentally) but, occasionally, it can also be the result of malicious intent. If left unchecked, fraud can propagate to other systems and companies and affect customer service.

Ocado Technology developed a mechanism of predicting and recognising these incidents among millions of other normal events using data collected from past orders, including cases of fraud. businessweekly.co.uk

Webinar: A CISO, CIO, and Compliance Officer Grab Coffee
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
10:00 A.M. Pacific | 1:00 P.M. Eastern

What are the best ways to keep your cloud stack secure, your business compliant, and your users safe? Getting straight (and useful) answers to these simple questions isn't always easy.

Join us for a candid discussion with Box CIO Paul Chapman and his counterparts in Security and Compliance as they reveal how they work together every day to tackle the complex security and compliance challenges every global business faces today. They'll share best practices, pitfalls to avoid, and answer your hardest questions.

This isn't your typical webinar. No slides. No pitches. No filters. Just a candid discussion with the guys who are safeguarding the data for over 80,000 businesses - including 67% of the Fortune 500 - as they share best practices and insights.

Here's what they'll discuss:

● How to get executives and users to care about security and compliance
● Top of mind security or compliance issues (and tackling them)
● The toughest challenges they faced
● Bring your hardest questions to this town hall and get ready for an honest conversation. Register here.

Study: Majority of voice-assisted device owners never make a purchase

Report: Walmart's new drone patent filings could automate farming

In A Digital World Struggling With Ad Fraud,
Marketers Must Prioritize Brand Safety
Over the past decade, an influx of new technologies has dramatically changed the way advertisers, marketers and consumers experience the web. Most notable is the troubling vulnerability of ad fraud. The culprit that negatively impacts a consumer's online experience and often falsifies a brand's marketing performance, ad fraud is costly and a persistent industry issue. According to industry analyst firm Forrester, budget lost from fraudulent online ads is expected to reach $10.9 billion by 2021. The industry must be on call.

Here are steps brands can embrace to prioritize and achieve ad transparency and quality.

Leveraging Empirical Data
Before serving an ad, marketers must gain insight on target audiences. Many take a "spray and pray" approach, hoping to drive performance success. Marketers who take a more strategic approach, looking to empirical data, position their brand for greater success. Empirical data generates actionable consumer insights that drive highly successful ad placement - a luxury too many marketers fail to embrace.

Pre-Qualifying Publishers
Before working with a publisher, it's critical for marketers to pre-qualify them. Brands can successfully do this by using third-party services (such as WhiteOps or Moat), leading to improved ad placement and fraud protection. These companies specialize in creating page reports on ads, before and after they're served, to determine if the ad page is safe. This enables companies to increase their blacklisting and whitelisting.

Demanding Transparency
As the industry looks for solutions to ad fraud, more ad buyers and sellers are engaging with private marketplaces - invite-only marketplaces where high-caliber publishers offer ad inventory to select advertisers. These sites help advertisers gain more transparency into inventory buys with less competitiveness.

Adopting Better Campaign Optimization
When running a campaign, it's important for marketers to have confidence that their click traffic and conversions are legitimate. Marketers must adapt a high level of transparency in click tracking. There are multiple steps that can be taken to ensure clicks aren't leading to fraudulent impressions and traffic including tracking your advertising campaigns, properly counting clicks, and prioritizing the consumer experience. forbes.com

Ethoca aims to eradicate 90% of chargebacks through new security and dispute resolution suite
Ethoca's new solution suite is solving the ecommerce friction and customer experience problem through three lines of defence. The first line of defence is Ethoca Eliminator, a ground-breaking new solution that allows card issuers to tap into deep merchant intelligence (shopping cart details, IP address, account details, etc.) at the first moment a cardholder clicks on a transaction in their mobile banking app or calls into their bank to question a transaction.

The second line of defence in Ethoca's suite is Ethoca Alerts - the company's flagship product introduced in 2010. If during the Eliminator process a cardholder still insists on disputing the transaction, card issuers participating in Ethoca's network will provide confirmation of fraudulent or disputed transactions to Ethoca. Ethoca makes this actionable intelligence available to more than 5,400 merchants participating in Ethoca's network through real-time alerts that provide a window of opportunity to stop the fulfillment of goods and services and refund the transaction to avoid the chargeback.

The third line of defence is Enhanced Representments. Merchants who have sufficient compelling evidence to prove a case of friendly fraud or challenge other transaction disputes are often focused on recovering revenue they would otherwise lose through the chargeback process. Enhanced Representments is a completely automated solution focused on disputing chargebacks responsibly based on Ethoca's deep understanding of chargeback processing and compelling evidence rules. finextra.com

E-Commerce Retailers Love February Growth
The National Retail Federation (NRF) reported its February sales numbers this week and said online and other non-store sales rose 10.5 percent compared to last year and were one percent higher than January 2018 sales on a seasonally adjusted basis. Last month, the NRF predicted that retail overall would grow between 3.8 and 4.4 percent in 2018 and that e-commerce would be one of the main engines driving that growth. cardnotpresent.com

Amazon/Whole Foods planning store pickup service from third-party retailers

Aldi expands delivery service to Midwest

Kroger expanding curbside pick-up with 500 new pick-up locations

Amazon's Shows Lure Millions To Prime, Internal Documents Show

Pittsburgh, PA: 2 UPS Employees Charged With Stealing $250,000 of Merchandise, pawning for drug money
Police say it happened at the Beaver Avenue shipping location on the city's North Side. Warrants have been issued for the two employees, who police say have been pawning off expensive items stolen from the location for the past two years. They are identified as Brad Thomas and Roseanne Carey. The pair is accused of tampering with packages, and removing coins, jewelry, silver and gold bars and a gun. The merchandise is valued at $250,000. Police say it was pawned for $122,000. Police say Thomas may have been supporting a drug addiction. cbslocal.com

Greenville, SC: Police locate Bassmaster Classic vendor's trailer stolen with over $100K of merchandise
Police said the trailer was stolen from the Hampton Inn Wednesday morning. Police released surveillance photos of the suspect's vehicle pulling the trailer. A broken trailer lock was found in the parking space where the trailer had been parked, officers said. On Thursday afternoon, officers confirmed the trailer was found behind Cherrydale Plaza. Greenville Police said the trailer was recovered after they received a tip from Crime Stoppers. foxcarolina.com

Las Vegas, NV: 2 indicted in series of Las Vegas Strip luxury Handbag Thefts
Two people have been indicted in a series of luxury handbag thefts on the Las Vegas Strip, beginning in late 2016. Michelle Davis took a lizard-styled Chanel handbag valued at $10,700 from the Prada Store in the Wynn Las Vegas. The same day, Davis pawned the handbag for $2,200. Two days later, Asbury and Davis went to Barney's New York on Las Vegas Blvd., and took a Saint Laurent handbag worth $1,450. During the incident at Barney's, Davis hit a Loss Prevention officer when he tried to stop her. Davis was indicted on grand larceny, burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, theft and robbery charges while Asbury was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit burglary, burglary, grand larceny, robbery and carrying a concealed firearm or other deadly weapon. ktnv.com


Kingsport, TN: Woman's rap sheet wraps up with gunfire, pursuit
Over the past month, Teresa Worthington has allegedly stolen three vehicles, nearly run over a police officer, and fired a gun at a citizen pursuing her along Interstate 81. Worthington is a suspect in a felony theft at Walmart on Stone Drive. According to loss prevention, she placed 27 items in a plastic bin and walked out of the store, making away with more than $1,100 in merchandise. Worthington allegedly had two handguns, more than a dozen pills and over 35 grams of meth, netting additional charges. timesnews.net


Benton, IL: Police arrest one in Dollar General Felony Retail theft

Shootings, Stabbing & Deaths

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Keep Employees Engaged with Continued Learning,
Smiles and Work-Life Balance
 

8 Things You Can Do Daily that Will Boost Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is the difference between success and failure at any company. As a leader, you have the biggest impact on your team's engagement, and your number one goal should be increasing it. Make sure you're doing these eight things to help boost engagement. Show your smile

6 Brilliant Things the Best Companies Do to Make Employees Feel Like They Truly Matter
Today, more companies understand what it takes to make workplaces engaging, positive and fulfilling. Here are some best-in-class strategies from leading executives, a Navy Seal and science to help improve employee engagement. Balance work and life

Engaging Employees Starts with Remembering What Your Company Stands For
The cost can be quite high when it comes to improving employee engagement, but the trick isn't how much you spend, it's how you're trying to keep them engaged. To really get your team engaged, use your company's brand. Alignment

Successful Ways to Encourage Employee Development and Strengthen Your Team
Investing in employee development is vital for strengthening your team and ensuring company success in the future. Here's how you can encourage employee development ideas that your team will truly benefit from and that they will really enjoy. Cross-training

Sometimes when you're moving so fast and dealing with the mistakes of the day, the frustration levels peak and one can tend to forget that sometimes you've just got to stop, listen and take a breath and maybe talk to a friend about it all. If it's a good friend, they'll bring you back into focus and make sure you don't react too aggressively and make the mistakes even worst. There aren't many friends like that nor ones that you can absolutely trust. But if you've got a couple, make sure you thank them as well for taking the time.

Just a Thought,
Gus

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