2019 GLPS - Group LP Selfies
Your Team - Your Pride - Our Industry
Building Industry Pride - One Team Selfie at a Time
 

How Gap Inc.'s LP leader also helps preserve the planet

Keith White has a unique title and position. As the executive vice president of loss prevention and global sustainability at Gap Inc., the skills and knowledge acquired through a career in loss prevention help him look at the bigger picture - much bigger than just himself or the company. "I feel like there's a better nexus between global sustainability and loss prevention," he says: In one way he's charged with the responsibility to protect the planet, in the other he's working to preserve it. On this episode, White joins the Retail Gets Real team to discuss emerging trends in the loss prevention world and how the apparel retailer is taking corporate social responsibility to the next level.

White sees three emerging trends in LP. First, active shooter and other emergency incidents are a growing threat. He stresses the importance of proper training for retail stores, team members, corporate headquarters and everyone on the supply chain so they are prepared to respond appropriately in emergency incidents. The opioid epidemic is "driving people who are educated and have access to wealth to make decisions or to do things that they typically wouldn't do," White says, "whether it's shoplifting behavior or it's violent behavior." He urges those in loss prevention to understand the effect the drug has on their businesses. nrf.com

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Detroit Police Can Continue to Use Facial Recognition
The Detroit's Board of Police Commissioners approved a policy for police to use facial recognition technology.

The policy only allows facial recognition to be used on still images of people suspected of violent crimes or home invasion. It prohibits the use of facial scanning for "surveillance," through livestreams or on mobile devices, and at "First Amendment events" such as protests or other constitutionally-protected activities.

The directive states that police analysts must verify any facial recognition matches the software produces, and get that verification approved by a supervisor. Any facial recognition identification is only a lead for investigators and can never be used as the sole basis for an arrest, says the policy. securitymagazine.com

CNN: Asking customers not to bring guns into stores is one thing
Enforcing the policy is another
Walmart and seven other retailers made major political statements earlier this month when they asked customers not to openly carry firearms in their stores.

But enforcing the new gun policies will be complicated. Employees are on the front lines of enforcing the rules. Educating workers about how and when to approach armed customers requires training, and many employees may feel uncomfortable about asking gunholders to leave a store. There is also little data on whether banning open carry really does keep people safer.

That's why the policies, though well-intentioned, may not have much impact on reducing guns in stores. cnn.com

Carnegie report says facial recognition and AI surveillance spreading faster than thought
At least 75 countries around the world are actively using artificial intelligence tools such as facial biometrics to conduct surveillance on citizens, according to The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

A new report from the organization says that IBM and Cisco are among the government AI surveillance market's leaders. The technology is used by autocratic regimes, as well as liberal democracies such as the United States and France.

Major findings include that the spread of AI surveillance technology is much faster and wider than previously understood, with 64 countries actively using facial recognition, 56 implementing smart city systems, and 52 using smart policing technologies. biometricupdate.com

Report: 10% Year-Over-Year Increase in Gift Card Sales
According to Paytronix Systems Inc.'s Paytronix Annual Gift Card Sales Report: 2019, there is a consistent 10% year-over-year growth in gift card sales for the 220 brands surveyed in this year's report versus the 190 brands surveyed for its 2018 reports.

The Paytronix Annual Gift Card Sales Report: 2019 includes an in-depth look into holiday gift card sales, sales by channel and service type and anticipated redemption.

The report also reveals new insights on eGift cards, such as average load to a virtual stored value card and how restaurants can anticipate their eGift card sales to look during the busy holiday season. cstoredecisions.com

Apple's Ron Johnson - Amazon's Disruption is Over
Amazon has to 'figure out how to compete with Target and Walmart'
Target and Walmart's online sales are growing three times Amazon's in the U.S. Forty percent pick up at store, they're getting it same day. Amazon can't do that. So they've got to figure out how to compete with Target and Walmart." Ron Johnson, Enjoy CEO and former CEO of JCPenney (JCP), told Yahoo Finance's The Final Round.

Amazon has changed the retail landscape over the past 25 years, but now the industry it disrupted is beating the company at its own game, he said. Johnson said that the company's lack of physical locations is putting it a disadvantage.

"Once the physical companies took advantage of online shopping, fast shipping, pick-up in store, great technology, their traffic in stores is growing and their online is growing. So Amazon is kind of left out not having a physical footprint, and so they're trying to compete with this fast delivery which is going to be very expensive for them."

As Walmart and Target maintain rapid e-commerce growth, it's clear that the merging of online retailing with traditional retailing is becoming more important in the success of a company's e-commerce business.

"Amazon disrupted for a while, that's over now. Now the big stores have disrupted Amazon back" Johnson said. yahoo.com

Vast Majority of Consumers Already Plan to Return Holiday Gifts
During the upcoming holiday season 77 percent of consumers surveyed said they plan to return a portion of their gifts, with nearly 20 percent expecting to return more than half of their presents (sorry grandma!). This is both a blessing and a curse for retailers planning for the holiday season. While 32 percent of those polled noted they plan to return gifts via mail, 65 percent intend to return them to the store, giving brick-and-mortar retailers another opportunity to engage customers and boost post-holiday sales.

"Preparing for returns is a best practice, leveraging returns intelligence to inform product development and new customer acquisition strategies is next practice retail." oracle.com

Nashville, TN: Gun store burglaries contribute to dangerous trend

1,000 Protesting Uber Drivers Brought NYC Traffic to a Standstill


Quarterly Results
Sears Hometown & Outlet Q2 comp's down 21.7%, sales down 44.3%

Checkpoint Systems Announces CBD Product Protection Solutions for Retailers

Provides Security Keepers and Labels for theft prevention on products containing CBD

THOROFARE, N.J., Sept. 18, 2019 - Checkpoint Systems, a leading global supplier of Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS), RFID solutions and Alpha High-Theft Solutions for the retail industry, today announced its line of specialized security labels and Keepers® to protect against retail CBD theft.

The portfolio of solutions offers retailers the ability to openly display popular CBD and other high value products by removing them from locked cabinets, assuring easy access for customers. Security Labels and Keepers are proven to increase sales and decrease shrink with an impressive ROI.

According to Stuart Rosenthal, Vice President of Sales for Checkpoint's Alpha High-Theft Solutions, "By having such a wide variety of Keeper sizes available, it makes protecting new products, such as CBD, straightforward and simple."
 

Fraud Gang Ringleader Pleads Guilty to $1.3M Multi-State Fraud
The leader of a multi-state conspiracy that stole and used personal identifying information of others to defraud banks, finance companies, car dealerships and retailers of more than $1.3 million pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence today to conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and fraud charges.

Octavio Andres Difo-Castro, 28, of Brooklyn, New York, admitted that he employed several individuals who, at his direction, opened bank accounts and applied for and received financing for automobiles, clothing, and electronic devices using fraudulent driver's licenses, Social Security numbers, and other documents he created with stolen information he purchased on the Dark Web.

Difo-Castro's admitted to the court that, at his direction, several individuals opened bank accounts using fraudulent IDs he provided to deposit and withdraw fraudulently obtained funds; to pose as both the seller and the buyer of vehicles in order to fraudulently secure bank and/or credit union financing from financial institutions in several states; and used stolen IDs he provided to obtain retail store credit and make purchases at clothing and cellphone retailers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

According to information presented to the court, banks and credit unions were defrauded of $899,866; cellphone retailers of $117,341; and clothing retailers of $14,067. justice.gov

Markham, IL: More than $1M in goods stolen from Rail Cars recovered in Markham; 5 arrested
Five men have been arrested as Markham police said they have recovered more than $1 million in stolen goods. The stolen items include high-end handbags, bicycles, electronics and household goods taken from local rail cars. Police also recovered $16,000 in cash, narcotics, three stolen hand guns and multiple stolen vehicles. Markham police said the stolen goods were found in a storage facility. Five people are in custody and more arrests are possible, police said. "As we continue to sort through local storage areas we are finding more stolen merchandise," said Markham Police Chief Terry White. chicago.cbslocal.com

$60,000 burglarized from Sunglass Hut in Camarillo; two suspects arrested
A crew of burglars stole an estimated $60,000 worth of property from a Sunglass Hut in Camarillo early Thursday, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. Police were notified around 3:30 a.m. about a burglary alarm at the Camarillo Premium Outlets.. Deputies arrived to find the store's glass window broken. Authorities performed a search of the area and found a vehicle fleeing toward Los Angeles. Ventura County sheriff's deputies pursued the vehicle, but eventually lost sight of it as it entered Los Angeles. Later that morning, officers with the Los Angeles Police Department found a vehicle that matched the description of the one involved with the burglary. Two suspects, identified as Vincent Reese, 34, and Dayquan Ware, 29, both of Los Angeles, were arrested and a large amount of stolen property was recovered, according to authorities. vcstar.com

La Cañada Flintridge, CA: Smash & Grab Thieves bring hammer into T.J.Maxx, smash cases while customers watch
Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station detectives are investigating a smash-and-grab burglary at the T.J.Maxx store in La Cañada Wednesday night, during which suspects broke display cases with a hammer and stole $16,000 in designer handbags while customers shopped nearby. Watch Commander Lt. Mark Lopez said deputies responded to 663 Foothill Blvd. at about 8:50 p.m., 10 minutes before the store was scheduled to close. Witnesses reported seeing four black male adults wearing hooded sweatshirts enter the store. "They used a hammer to smash the purse [display] cases," Lopez said Thursday, adding several high-end purses were taken during the incident. "Then they left through the front door."  latimes.com

Plainville, MA: Burglaries at 2 Mass Target stores connected to multi-state smash & grab spree Smash-and-grab criminals who have targeted stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are believed to be responsible for similar crimes at two Target stores in Massachusetts, a law enforcement source told Boston 25 News. On Aug 3, Target in Plainville reported a burglary, three iPhones totaling $2,500 were stolen. The damage to the glass door was estimated at $1,200. Fast forward to September 8, our source said a man smashed through the front glass doors of the Target in Marlborough. 24 hours later and more than three-hundred miles away, two people were seen shattering glass doors to get inside a Target store in Exton, Pennsylvania. boston25news.com

North Carolina: Identity Scammers theft ring leaps from hotel window before capture
A man accused of perpetrating an identity theft scam with three others in North Carolina sprung from a second-story hotel window to evade police, court documents say. It didn't work. Federal prosecutors said in an indictment released Tuesday that the man, his ex-girlfriend and two others racked up $450,000 on credit cards, buying merchandise and nice cars. After his daring escape, police in North Carolina caught Kevin D. Bennett-Rosario, 44, with several fake IDS and sheets of paper with the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of other people, prosecutors said. "The defendants used the stolen identities of real persons... to create identification cards in the victims' names, but with the defendants' photographs," the indictment states. Prosecutors said they opened credit cards at places such as Lowe's, Walmart, Belk, Kohl's and Target, and purchased vehicles from multiple CarMax dealerships in the Carolinas, Tennessee and Georgia. charlotteobserver.com

Atlantic City, NJ: Five men were charged with identity theft after using $11,900 worth of gift cards purchased at a casino with a stolen credit card

Toledo, OH: Man suspected of stealing $2,037 worth of Apple Pencils