Retail Layoffs & Downsizing Coming?
With Unstable Economy, Hiring Freezes and Layoffs Could Be Looming

HR teams encouraged to create downsizing strategy-just in case

A steady trickle of headlines announcing hiring slowdowns, freezes and layoffs at familiar and successful companies such as Netflix, Walmart, Meta, Wayfair and Microsoft could be the early signs of job cuts later this year or into next.

Troubling economic data and trends led by inflation, rising interest rates and reduced consumer retail spending has executives eyeing moves to preserve cash flow and minimize expenses.

The U.S. workforce has been through this before, as recently as 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented job layoffs and significant workforce distress.

"Organizations should always be prepared for layoffs," said Phyllis Hartman, SHRM-SCP, president of PGHR Consulting in Pittsburgh. "It is difficult to predict the need for this action. That being said, layoffs should be a last resort to save money, as there are lots of negative impacts-morale issues, impact on survivors, loss of trust, etc.-no matter how well the layoffs are carried out."

CHROs and HR departments should be able to scale back very quickly based on their most recent experiences in the pandemic, according to Stacey Berk, founder and managing consultant for Expand HR Consulting in Rockville, Md. shrm.org

Retailers Could Face a 'Nightmare' Summer
Target Inventory Warning Portends Retail Bloodbath

This summer could be a promotional boon for shoppers but a nightmare for retailers

Target's inventory problem is turning out even worse than it expected just a short time ago. Its latest warning could portend a promotional bloodbath among retailers this summer.

The retailer on Tuesday lowered its operating-margin guidance for its second quarter to 2%, less than half the margin it telegraphed three weeks ago. The company said it is taking actions to "right-size" its inventory, which will involve more discounts and canceling orders.

While Target is known for strong merchandising, there are two reasons the inventory problem was especially bad for the retailer. One is that the largest retailers had the means to spend heavily to get more goods last year, when there were widespread concerns about shortages. Companies including Walmart, Costco and Target all paid for their own chartered ships to stock shelves up ahead of last year's holiday season. This could have made them more susceptible to accidental pileups of the wrong items.

Target's inventory warning indicates that other retailers could be undergoing the same kind of margin reckoning as they gauge the right sales mix. Other retailers with much higher inventory levels included Walmart and Kohl's. Margins could take a worse hit than expected at companies such as online furniture seller Wayfair, electronics retailer Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond.

It's going to be a summer full of discounts for consumers and a stressful, sweaty season of planning for retailers. wsj.com

Beyond the Retail Distribution Center
Retail is doing away with the supply chain of yesterday

New fulfillment models are reinventing retail operations to keep up with customer demand.

The retail supply chain of yesterday can no longer serve the customer of today on its own. Big, centrally located distribution centers (DCs) were built to ship products at set intervals to stores, and stores were where customers shopped. But today we are in an environment with a higher prevalence of e-commerce shopping (30 percent higher penetration than pre-COVID-19), higher customer expectations when it comes to delivery speed, and higher availability of excess space within stores-which combined create an opportunity to evaluate new fulfillment models that move beyond the DC-centric model of the past. Today's customer requires greater agility and greater speed than ever before, beyond what central DCs are currently set up to deliver on their own.

In response to these trends, retailers are thinking outside the (big) box to reimagine their "slow-twitch" supply chains, building for "fast-twitch" models that can serve customers directly and rapidly. This has led to the emergence of three horizons of change in retail-fulfillment operations: within the store, around the store, and in the neighborhood.

Retailers are using their existing assets to build operations that better serve the omnichannel customer. Major players such as Target, Walmart, and Best Buy are using their less productive and excess store space as a competitive advantage to fulfill e-commerce orders from stores. Using stores as fulfillment centers allows retailers to ship from locations closer to customers, which in turn drives down delivery times and cost. mckinsey.com

Retail's Union Push Continues
Trader Joe's Workers File for Election to Create Company's First Union

The workers, at a store in western Massachusetts, cited health and safety concerns and cuts to benefits at the grocery chain.

In a sign that service industry workers continue to have a strong interest in unionizing after successful votes at Starbucks, REI and Amazon, employees at a Trader Joe's in western Massachusetts have filed for a union election. If they win, they will create the only union at Trader Joe's, which has more than 500 locations and 50,000 employees nationwide.

The filing with the National Labor Relations Board late Tuesday seeks an election involving about 85 employees who would form an independent union, Trader Joe's United, rather than affiliate with an established labor organization. That echoes the independent union created by Amazon workers on Staten Island and the worker-led organizing at Starbucks. nytimes.com

Wawa plans to open first store in Nashville amid expansion
Wawa plans to open its first store in Nashville, TN, by 2025. The convenience store retailer, which is based in Pennsylvania, is expanding its store network from the Florida Panhandle, to southern Alabama and North Carolina.

Four Ann Arbor Starbucks stores vote to unionize

Belk department store adding shop within a shop to boost sales

Retailers Need to Rethink Cybersecurity
Tips for retailers on how to secure next-gen shopping experiences
Retailers continue to adopt a digital-first approach to customer experience, both in-store and online. According to a recent survey by DemandScience and Comcast Business, over the next 12 months, retail IT executives will prioritize upgrades in digital customer experience (CX), network and cybersecurity solutions, expanded use of analytics-backed decision-making, and increased investments in AI.

To meet the customer demands of a digital-first business model, retailers need to address their critical digital infrastructure and rethink network design and cybersecurity.

Retail-specific vulnerabilities

Retailers have always been attractive targets for cyber attackers and data thieves. But now, cybersecurity threats have become an even bigger concern with 24% of all cyberattacks targeted at retailers, more than any other industry. For retail security teams, the network perimeter continues to transform as data and applications move to the cloud, more devices and merchandise are connected in-store, and users are working from outside headquarters and branch locations.

With the expanding range of possible entry points, payment care industry (PCI) compliance -always a top-line security priority - can be more challenging to manage. Retail security is further complicated by the broader threat surface due to digital POS systems, eCommerce platforms, digital supply chains with third-party partners, and digital loyalty programs.

Enabling new customer experiences through SD-WAN and SASE

The SASE framework, short for "secure access service edge," is a convergence of network and security services. It merges security with SD-WAN to create a single, unified cloud service with far-reaching benefits. Retailers can leverage the SASE framework to develop overarching network strategies and address the new types of cyber risks within omnichannel models.

Security-as-a-service to manage complex security

For retailers, the complexity of managing today's network security is amplified as the number of locations increases. Bringing on a partner can help manage the necessities. bizjournals.com

Retail Cyber Risk Trends
Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Highlight Risk Trends for Retail & Consumer Markets
Within retail and consumer markets, familiarity seems to breed comfort rather than contempt, as respondents stated that labor and employment and commercial disputes comprise the majority of disputes they face, but generally pose the least concern.

Conversely, they identified cybersecurity and data protection as the most concerning for them relative to the number of disputes they actually are facing. In absolute terms, respondents cited class actions and regulatory disputes and investigation to be the most concerning. They also noted that environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are on the rise.

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy

Digging into the data, we see that the reason for the focus on cybersecurity and data privacy is not only the worry over financial exposure from disputes, but also the potential for brand damage and loss of data - whether customer and related data or intellectual property associated with their products and services (i.e. the "secret sauce").

Respondents also cited the added element of cyber risk across jurisdictions given the differing regulatory landscapes in the global marketplace. In response, we found that a majority of respondents are taking the following steps to mitigate risk:

● Training employees, especially as to phishing and social engineering
● Incorporating tools to regulate, restrict and monitor access
● Reviewing, auditing and horizon scanning
● Imposing standards on outside vendors, including review, audit and certification requirements and requiring vendors to upgrade security when needed

We expect a continued increase in risk for the retail and consumer markets sectors. More states and countries are following the California and EU approaches to regulating the collection of personal information, posing difficult multi-jurisdictional compliance challenges. retailtouchpoints.com

RSA Conference Update
Communication Is Key to CISO Success

A panel of CISOs at the RSA Conference outlined what a successful first 90-day plan looks like, and it boiled down to effective communication and listening.

A trio of high-powered CISOs talked about the first 90 days in their roles, and whether the aim was getting board of directors' buy-in or building rank-and-file credibility, they all said how they communicated was what mattered the most.

The RSAC panel included Allison Miller, Reddit's CISO and VP of Trust; Olivia Rose, Amplitude's CISO and VP of IT; and Caleb Sima, CISO for Robin Hood. Chenxi Wang, founder of the Rain Capital venture capital fund, moderated the discussion.

Practically, Sima opened up by explaining how during his first few days with Robin Hood he gathered simple data points he labeled "top challenges" and "things that scare me." But Rose interjected that in many instances blunt statements like that could end up offending and alienating critical engineering and IT teams right out of the gate, which can make a CISO's job much harder.

Regardless of the approach, both of them, as well as Miller, spent time early in their positions trying to sell a security program to internal teams often not in line with their strategies. Miller and Rose said legal and compliance became their most natural partners inside the business.

"You've got to have allies," Rose said. There's often friction with engineering, infrastructure, IT, product, customer service, and others, but the legal and compliance teams have a clearer vision of the consequences of a security incident and can be invaluable in communicating them to the wider enterprise. darkreading.com

Texas: Cyberattack Epicenter?
As national cybersecurity threats grow, why Texas could be a target
In the digital age, cybersecurity threats have become a common tool used among political adversaries, especially amid conflicts between Russia and the United States. But among the various forms of cybersecurity threats, there's been a rising focus on the energy sector - and Texas could be a key target for foreign interference, security experts say.

"I think Texas is absolutely a target," said Morgan Wright, chief security advisor for SentinelOne. "Just recently in Germany....there was a type of malware called AcidRain which Sentinel Labs had found out it attacks specifically the routers and modems that supplied connectivity to 5,800 wind turbines. They attack the energy grid, they attack the power grid."

And while foreign interference into Texas' energy infrastructure has not yet been detected, it is an issue whose prevalence has already impacted the United States' energy system. In late March, the United States' Department of Justice announced four Russian government employees had been charged for targeting the global energy sector between 2012 and 2018.

"In total, these hacking campaigns targeted thousands of computers, at hundreds of companies and organizations, in approximately 135 countries," the DOJ notice read in part. kxan.com

How the C-Suite Puts Shoulders Into Zero Trust in 2022
77% of tech execs say they'll increase spending in zero-trust architecture in the coming year.

Cloud computing security: Five things you are probably doing wrong

Canadian Retail's COVID Evolution
Retail Changed Substantially Over the Course of the Pandemic and Future Predictions: Eric Morris of Google Canada
Over the last few years, the Canadian retail landscape changed forever, says Eric Morris, Managing Director of Google's Retail practice in Canada, leading sales, operations, research, strategy and analytics.

E-commerce surged during lockdowns and peak COVID periods and while the pandemic has subsided e-commerce is well above historical rates in Canada, said Morris.

"It's 14 per cent of all retail sales. That's double where we were just a few years ago," he said. "That shift towards e-commerce has been very durable.

"Canada's e-commerce moment is now. We said that in 2020 and that was true through 2022. E-commerce and retail in Canada has changed forever. Related to that, the broader digital transformation isn't just an e-commerce story only."

Morris was one of the guest speakers at the recent RCC STORE Conference put on by the Retail Council of Canada. He said a large number of people are coming online to research products in stores whether they buy it online or in-store. That's a transformation from where the industry was a few years ago. retail-insider.com

Post-Lockdown Boom
Canadian Apparel Sales Forecasted to See Strong Growth Over Next Several Years: Trendex Report
Canadian apparel sales rebounded in 2021 and are forecast to continue to grow in the coming years, according to a new report by Trendex North America, a marketing research and consulting firm.

Sales in that retail category plunged by 23.6 per cent in 2020 as a result of the pandemic but came back with a year-over-year gain of 16.2 per cent last year. Trendex is forecasting annual gains of 14.8 per cent this year, 5.0 per cent in 2023, 2.9 per cent in 2024, 1.5 per cent in 2025 and 1.8 per cent in 2026.

Randy Harris, president and owner of Trendex North America, said that beginning in March 2021 the Canadian market returned to "normalcy as consumer demand began to increase and stores were opened." retail-insider.com

Montreal Retail Leasing Seeing Improved Activity as Pandemic Slowdowns Ease
 

Washington, DC: DC shoplifters caught on video snatching laundry detergent at store near Capitol
Shoplifters were caught on video brazenly robbing a grocery store, just one mile from the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. In the video, at least three people in the Giant Food grocery store on H Street NE are seen stealing as much laundry detergent as they can carry, filing up garbage bags and a shopping cart, before walking further into the store. The theft happened around 1 p.m., a witness told Fox News. foxnews.com

Thieves target Sam Jidd Luxury Motors for fifth time in Des Plaines; owner says he's leaving Chicago area
One of the Chicago area's most elite car dealerships was targeted by thieves overnight Monday into Tuesday. As CBS 2's Chris Tye reported Tuesday, the crew got away with three luxury vehicles - and something that might be more even more valuable. The owner of Sam Jidd Luxury Motors, at 1505 S. Mt. Prospect Rd. in Des Plaines, said this was the fifth time in a little more than a year that thieves have struck. The owner says lax laws and policing are only inviting copycat crimes. "It's going to be a nightmare this week," said owner Sam Jidd. "I don't know what's going to happen." At the moment of impact just before sunrise Tuesday, an app on Jidd's phone alerted him something was wrong. He watched in real time as thieves raced through his business. The thieves were in and out in two minutes. After the glass on a front door was shattered, one thief made his way to the back corner - where they disengaged a secure box protecting 130 key fobs. Surveillance video shows the thieves testing the fobs to find corresponding cars. Accomplices out back begin testing cars there - selecting three valued at nearly $400,000. The thieves then left. The final piece of surveillance video shows the start of a police chase that ends when police say it reached a high rate of speed - and had to stop. cbsnews.com

Fayette County, GA: Store owner says thief stole about $40,000 in hair
A business owner says it was an extreme invasion of privacy when a thief broke into her store and stole more than $40,000 worth of hair. "Don't steal from people because karma is amazing," business owner Latasha Harris said. It was a wake-up call from police that no business owner wants to get. Surveillance video shows the man who stole from the Hair Xchange on Highway 85 in Fayette County. Latasha Harris is a wholesale hair supplier who has been in the hair business for nearly two decades. She says nothing like this has happened before. fox5atlanta.com

Fontana, CA: Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Customer Packages Found At Fontana Home Of OnTrac Delivery Driver
An OnTrac delivery driver faces charges of grand theft for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. Deputies responded to a home in the 9700 block of Calabash Avenue in Fontana on Friday to check into a report of theft, where they spoke to 61-year-old Juan Cardenas, authorities said. Cardenas, an employee with OnTrac, was suspected of stealing packages in the course of his work. At the home, deputies discovered several thousand dollars worth of stolen merchandise. Some packages were unopened, while others were still in their shipping boxes with customer addresses on them. The stolen merchandise ranged from electronics like TVs and a robot vacuum, to small kitchen appliances like a stand mixer, an electric cooker, and cookware; to luggage, tools, clothes, and toys. cbsnews.com

Chicago, IL: $100,000 In Rare Cards, Including Michael Jordan And Mickey Mantle Rookies, Stolen After Thief Cuts Out Lincoln Square Store's Bricks

Derby, VT: Police looking for man that stole from Shaw's twice, totaling $1000

Plymouth Township, PA: Police seeking information on suspect in $350 theft from Ulta