Steve Prebble Takes the Helm as President of Appriss Retail
Seasoned Retail Executive Brings Decades of Experience Helping Businesses Blend Retail and Data Services

Appriss Retail, the industry leader in retail performance improvement solutions, today announced that it has named Steve Prebble its president. Prebble succeeds Krishnan Sastry who was promoted to chief operating officer of the company's parent, Appriss, Inc. Prebble brings decades of international experience in retail and technology leadership helping businesses enhance consumer engagement and drive financial performance.

"Steve has a unique blend of skills that will help us maximize our 'knowledge for good' mission," said Sastry. "He has extensive retail operations, merchandising, and marketing experience with world class retailers, some of which are our clients. This internal experience with retailers, coupled with Steve's track record of developing technology-driven solutions for retailers, aligns perfectly with Appriss Retail's vision, and we're very excited to have him on board." Read more here

Johnson Controls introduces cloud support for its enterprise access control and event management system
Tyco Software House C●CURE 9000 is cloud deployable and supported on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) from Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform

Johnson Controls announced today that its flagship access control and event management system Tyco Software House C●CURE 9000 is supported on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), enabling customers to take advantage of the many benefits of cloud computing with the choice of best-suited service providers.

With C-CURE 9000 deployable in the cloud, integrators and end users can leverage leading cloud service providers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform, to reduce server infrastructure and maintenance costs with greater business continuity options. For more information visit www.johnsoncontrols.com tycosecurityproducts.com

 

Upcoming Series Starts in July
Top 10 Women in Retail Loss Prevention
For a number of years now the NRF's Women in LP Caucus has done a great job of mentoring and providing guidance for the women in retail loss prevention. With a growing membership and a strong cross section of retailers represented, we at the Daily want to highlight and recognize these leaders who are paving the way for future generations.

Starting in July, we'll be publishing ten executive profiles, their comments, advice, and learn a little about the hurdles they faced on their way up to a top job in the industry. It's their journeys that everyone can learn from.

In an attempt to be all inclusive and truly reflect the leaders and influencers of retail Loss Prevention, we'll be including five retail seniors and five solution providers, as it takes a team to truly deliver the best results.

Stay tuned as we'll be making more announcements before NRF Protect. To learn more about the Women in LP Caucus watch LPNN's Episode with Joan Mason, VP of LP, Benefits, Payroll & Legal for the Container Store and Chair of the NRF's Women in Loss Prevention Caucus Committee.  

Huawei's Culture of Theft
Huawei's Yearslong Rise Is Littered With Accusations of Theft & Dubious Ethics
WSJ Article Details Years of Intellectual Property Theft Dating Back to 2004 at Chicago Trade Show

Chinese giant says it respects intellectual property rights, but competitors and some of its own former employees allege company goes to great lengths to steal trade secrets.

Along the way, Huawei has been dogged by allegations that its gains came on the back of copying and theft. A review of 10 cases in U.S. federal courts, and dozens of interviews with U.S. officials, former employees, competitors, and collaborators suggest Huawei had a corporate culture that blurred the boundary between competitive achievement and ethically dubious methods of pursuing it.

Huawei's accusers describe a wide-ranging, brazen, and opportunistic appetite: the targets of the alleged thefts range from longtime tech peers, including Cisco Technology Inc., and T-Mobile US Inc., to a musician in Seattle barely making minimum wage in his day job. In one case, a relative of Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei who worked at Motorola Inc. is alleged to have brought secret details of the U.S. company's technology to a meeting in Beijing. Another suit alleges complicity by Huawei deputy chairman Eric Xu in secrets theft.

Editor's Note: With emotions running high and Trumps trade war threatening to impact all of us in every industry, especially in retail, I was questioning the validity of all of the accusations. But after reading this article from an author who's been following and working with them directly there appears to be no doubt that an outright blatant culture of 'get it at any cost' exists at Huawei, starting at the very top.

The problem is they are the world leader in 5G and this threatens it's roll-out in the US. wsj.com

In case you missed it
JCP Shrink Improving - Down 13% in 2018 & 16% in Q1
JCP CEO Jill Soltau: 'There's no silver bullet,' & turnaround will take time
Puts Shrink Reduction in Top 6 Priorities
It's been her experience in turnarounds, she said, that "things can get worse before they get better."

We're focused on sustainable profitable growth and sustainable takes time," said Soltau, who joined Penney in October. She's been putting her management team together and working to improve Penney's processes, slashing inventories, working on integrating the online and store businesses, cutting down on shrink and revamping merchandise assortments and strategies.

Penney reduced its inventory by 13% last year and by 16% at the end of the first quarter. New processes have also cut down "shrink," or the loss or theft of merchandise, the company said. dallasnews.com

A Call To Action
Retail LP Alert: TN High Court Invite Legal Debate Before Decision
TN: Knox Prosecutor's 'Walmart burglary' policy draws state Supreme Court review
Prosecutor Charging Repeat Shoplifters with Felony Burglary
Prosecutor finds a way around rising felony threshold by charging repeat shoplifters with felony burglary. But Appellate court say unconstitutional.

A Tennessee appellate court deemed a policy of prosecuting Walmart shoplifters as burglars unconstitutional but Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen is continuing the effort and at least one judge - Scott Green - isn't happy about it. Nearly three years after Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen launched a controversial policy of charging petty thieves who shoplift at least twice from Walmart with felony burglary charges, the Tennessee Supreme Court is stepping in to answer those questions.

In a rare move, the high court also is inviting legal debate in the run-up to its decision, a nod to the far-reaching effects the outcome could have for defendants and taxpayers across Tennessee and - if Allen's initiative passes legal muster - the nation. Under current law, it's a misdemeanor - punishable up to a year in jail - to shoplift less than $1,000 in merchandise from a retailer. Burglary, on the other hand, is a felony with a penalty range of three years in prison for a first-time offender to 12 years in the case of a defendant with a prior criminal history. Felons also lose their right to vote and carry weapons. knoxnews.com

Facial recognition controversies draw increasing attention
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held the first of its hearings into facial recognition, examining the impact the technology has on civil rights and liberties. The committee heard testimony from Algorithmic Justice League Founder Joy Buolamwini, Clare Garvie of the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology, both of whom have sparked debate with recent research.

Dr. Cedric Alexander, the former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, University of D.C. Law Professor Andrew G. Ferguson, and ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Neema Singh Guliani also testified.

Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) called for recommendations that would recognize the technology's potential, while safeguarding against misuse.

Recommendations discussed include disclosure rules and standards for law enforcement use.

The committee will hear from law enforcement at its next meeting on June 4. biometricupdate.com

Video Analytics: Mature Solution or Still-Developing Technology?
The early struggles of video analytics technologies to live up to over-inflated expectations are well documented. Thankfully, improvements in performance have gone a long way toward overcoming end users' and integrators' disappointment and frustration with these solutions. That said, no amount of technological advancement will completely erase the stigma of the "over-promise and under-deliver" days, which is why many integrators still haven't completely embraced video analytics wholeheartedly.

While some technologies have matured to the point where integrators are comfortable deploying them, for some security providers, customer demand simply isn't there yet. sdmmag.com

Sephora's "We Belong To Something Beautiful" Campaign
Closing All Stores For Inclusion Training
Beauty retail giant Sephora announced Thursday it will close its stores, distribution centers and corporate offices the morning of June 5 to hold an inclusion training workshop. The company said it wants to "begin a dialogue" with its more than 16,000 U.S. employees on the importance of diversity and inclusion to the organization, and is planning future training sessions.

The company released the following statement as part of its new diversity and inclusion marketing initiative: "Sephora believes in championing all beauty, living with courage, and standing fearlessly together to celebrate our differences. We will never stop building a community where diversity is expected, self-expression is honored, all are welcomed, and you are included."

While mass closures won't be an option for all businesses, it's more about signaling a willingness to take an issue seriously, and putting resources into finding a solution. retaildive.com

Brand Reputation Impact?
CEO's Sexual Misconduct - The Last Nail
Topshop & Topman closing all 11 U.S. & the last 23 UK stores after reaching 200 in UK
UK shoppers had boycotted the retailer after last year's accusations of the UK owner's sexual misconduct.
HBC owns the Canadian stores which are not affected. ctvnews.ca

Retailers Reporting Favorable Q1
With 16 mainstream retailers reporting Q1 to date:
Average comp's up 2.4%, net sales up 0.9% View Full List here

April Sales Drop
Sales dropped 0.2% in April, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, after a big 1.7% jump in March

● Home and Garden supply plunged 1.9%
● Electronics and Appliance stores dropped 1.3%
● Car sales dropped 1.1%
● Clothing stores fell 0.2%

 

KPMG's 2019 Chief Compliance Officer Survey

Bath & Body to open 46 stores, renovate 175

PCI Pal Awarded Best PCI Compliance Provider at CNP 2019

San Francisco's Cashless Retail Ban Awaits Mayor's Signature

Sheetz Announces CBD Product Line in 140 PA Stores

Monitronics (dba Brinks Home Security) Files for Bankruptcy Protection


Quarterly Results
The Buckle Q1 comp's down 1.3%, net sales down 1.7%