Zebra Technologies Voted Top Software Vendor by Retailers in 2023 RIS Software LeaderBoard

Company continues to lead as part of the top 10 for the fourth consecutive year

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. — Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), an innovator at the front line of business with solutions and partners that deliver a performance edge, today announced the company was voted a top software vendor across 24 categories in the Retail Information Systems (RIS) 2023 Software LeaderBoard. Zebra topped the list in the Department Store and Mass Merchant Vendor Leaders category and moved up one spot from last year to sixth best overall in the prestigious Top 20 category, marking its fourth consecutive year in the Top 10.

The annual RIS Software LeaderBoard evaluates hundreds of leading retail technology software vendors and ranks their offerings alongside customer reviews and feedback. For 2023, Zebra’s rankings also include feedback from customers of antuit.ai – a leader in AI-powered inventory planning SaaS solutions for retail and consumer products – which Zebra acquired last year. Here is a summary of Zebra’s Top 3 rankings in eight categories:

• Department Store and Mass Merchant Vendor Leaders, at #1
• Leaders in Total Cost of Operations by Tier One and Mid-Size Retailers, at #2
• Grocery Vendor Leaders, at #2
• Top Vendors for Tier One Retailers, at #2
• Large Vendors, at #3
• Specialty Vendor Leaders, at #3
• Leaders in Overall Performance by Tier One and Mid-Size Retailers, at #3
• Leaders in Software Reliability by Tier One and Mid-Size Retailers, at #3

“Zebra’s commitment to provide the best solutions to help retailers overcome today’s challenges is underscored by our remarkable rankings in the 2023 RIS Software LeaderBoard,” said Suresh Menon, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Software Solutions, Zebra Technologies. “As highlighted in our recent Global Shopper Study, consumers demand hyper-convenience driven by digitalization, and we are enabling retailers to elevate their customer experience, optimize inventory and build smarter operations to meet this challenge.”

Read more here
 

Why you need face matching technology now

New LPM article highlights how retailers deploy face matching software to prevent deadly violence, ORC loss

If you have any stake in preventing retail violence and ORC loss, you need to read Courtney Wolfe’s face matching revolution article in the latest Loss Prevention Magazine.

Wolfe’s wide-ranging piece covers:

• misconceptions about facial recognition technology
• real-world face matching wins from a senior LP executive
• thoughtful privacy/security balance insights from LPRC’s Read Hayes
• the latest analysis of face matching best practices and trends from SIA’s Jake Parker.

Wolfe also interviewed FaceFirst President Dara Riordan. “We partner with our clients to balance safety and privacy,” Riordan said. “People deserve privacy, and we do offer that to the general public. They also want to be safe. Employees and customers deserve to know when a person who is a known threat has entered a store. They want their families safe.”

Riordan cleared up one of the biggest misconceptions about the technology. “Many people hear the words ‘facial recognition’ and think the system knows everyone who walks in, or that it’s matching them against a master database,” Riordan said. “That’s not the case, of course. Our clients’ private databases are their own. They are only populated with individuals who are known to have caused loss or disruption to the business. They are not shared. Our clients have crafted appropriate use programs and oversight policies in partnership with us, and they have been hugely successful in reducing theft and mitigating violence.”

Read the article starting at page 56 here, then check out the rest of the issue from Wolfe, new Vice President Stefanie Hoover, and the LPM team.

Here’s the bottom line: Modern face matching technology transforms security cameras from passive, reactive tools to proactive, real-time violence prevention tools. FaceFirst’s face matching software provides retailers with immediate notifications when ORC thieves, violent offenders, and other known threats enter—a vital situational awareness advantage when seconds matter.

Retailers using facial recognition software have matched active-shooter threats, disgruntled ex-employees, violent ex-spouses, members of ORC syndicates, murder suspects, arsonists, and sex offenders. They have also helped find missing Amber Alert children, missing elderly citizens, and human trafficking victims.

FaceFirst considers the use of AI with human oversight vital for retailers. Calculate the risks of being caught unaware when a known offender enters your store. If you knew there was a proven solution to keep your valued customers and associates safer from violent offenders, would you implement it? The real risk is answering no. FaceFirst’s solution is fast, accurate, and ethical—take action today at facefirst.com.
 

Violent ORC Surge Could Keep Shoppers Away from Stores
Opinion: The plague of shoplifting is not harmless

The National Retail Foundation says stores lost $94.5 billion in revenue to theft in 2021. Experts say much of this was to fund larger crimes by selling products online.

The death of traditional brick-and-mortar stores has been prematurely announced for decades. Despite the convenience of online shopping, the tactile experience of in-person shopping remains popular. And that might continue indefinitely, unless the experience becomes too dangerous.

These thefts are dangerous to store workers and the public. The New York Post reported that an 83-year-old man died in a North Carolina Home Depot when he confronted a shoplifter, who pushed him to the ground. The man was an employee of the store. The Post also reported that a Rite Aid employee died in 2021 while trying to stop a shoplifter at a store in Los Angeles.

Business Insider reports that some stores are putting more products behind locked showcases. Others, such as Home Depot, sell power tools that won’t work unless activated by store employees at checkout. The trouble is, many shoppers don’t like these inconveniences, and that may drive them to online shopping, instead.

But experts say the items stolen in these large-scale shoplifting incidents tend to end up for sale online. And, eventually, the thefts will lead to greater inflation, as stores raise prices to cover their losses.

President Biden just signed into law the INFORM Consumers Act, as part of the giant omnibus spending bill. This law, supported by a wide range of retailers, requires online marketplaces to verify third-party sellers who trade in a high volume of products, and to disclose basic information on these sellers to shoppers and law enforcement.

Ben Dugan, president of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail, said: “Criminals’ ability to sell merchandise by way of e-commerce sites has made this increasingly difficult,” he said. “The INFORM Consumers Act will establish robust consumer safeguards and equip law enforcement with the tools they need to crack down on illicit activity.”

Whether that really happens remains to be seen. One thing is certain, the amount of money being stolen, and the danger to consumers, cannot continue to grow at its current pace. It would mean the real end to in-person shopping and a serious blow to consumer confidence at a time when the economy might need the opposite more than ever. deseret.com


Walgreens CFO Says Theft/Shrinkage Has 'Stabilized'
The company may 'step away' from hiring private security guards

Top Walgreens exec says threat of organized retail theft was overblown
A top Walgreens executive on Thursday acknowledged the company may have overblown concerns about thefts in their stores after shrinkage stabilized over the last year.

During an earnings call, the company’s chief financial officer, James Kehoe, said shrinkage was about 3.5% of sales last year but that number is now closer to the “mid twos.” He also said the company would consider moving away from hiring private security guards.

“Maybe we cried too much last year,” Kehoe said. “We’re stabilized,” he added, saying the company is “quite happy with where we are.”

Shrinkage is the difference between a company’s recorded inventory on their balance sheet and its actual inventory. It primarily accounts for items that were shoplifted but also includes inventory that was damaged, lost or stolen by employees.

Over the last two years, Walgreens has been raising the alarm about increased theft. As a result, it hired private security guards and locked up merchandise so it can’t be accessed without a store associate.

Kehoe said the company has spent a “fair amount” to crack down on the thefts but acknowledged the private security companies they’ve hired have been “largely ineffective.” These guards can do very little but call law enforcement or hold a suspect until police arrive.

“We’ve put in incremental security in the stores in the first quarter. Actually, probably we put in too much. We might step back a little bit from that,” said Kehoe. The company is using more law enforcement as opposed to private security, he added.

Other retailers, such as Walmart and Target, have said recently shrinkage remains a growing concern. cnbc.com sfchronicle.com


Dealing with Shopping Centers that Become Violent Hot Spots
Op-Ed: Can you blame a shopping center for a shooting?
The people who got on Baltimore City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett after the shooting in Edmondson Village on Wednesday morning might not know this, but he has been pushing for investment in that old shopping center for several years.

So, when gunfire erupted among high school students outside a fast-food restaurant in Edmondson Village, some residents dumped on Burnett about the lack of progress.

The suggestion, from both Burnett and his critics, is that conditions in the shopping center contribute to the problems there. Mayor Brandon Scott suggested the same thing: that neglectful ownership fosters and abides a fraught environment.

Some might think it odd or deflecting for public officials to reference the conditions of a shopping center in the aftermath of a mass shooting when those who squeezed triggers are solely to blame for the death of a 16-year-old boy and the wounding of four other students. And yet, that bit about conditions is not far-fetched. Conditions in a place, physical and behavioral, matter.

Some properties are, indeed, associated with crime. Using the city padlock law a few years ago, police shut down a Southwest Baltimore gas station connected to 16 mostly violent crimes within two years, including two homicides. Residents in Northeast Baltimore recently called for the shuttering of a gas station in the smartly redeveloped Northwood Commons Shopping Center after a 56-year-old man was fatally shot there.

The issue in Edmondson Village is different. It’s not about shuttering a particular business. It’s about the lack of investment and care. Burnett has been working on that for close to a decade, and his hopes now turn to the pending sale of the shopping center to a Chicago developer, Lyneir Richardson, known for turning them around.  baltimoresun.com

RELATED: Family of slain teen calls for justice, prayers after shooting at Baltimore’s Edmondson Village Shopping Center


'Out-of-Control' Teens Driving NYC's Crime & Robbery Surge
Teen violence spiraling out of control in NYC, Eric Adams and NYPD warn
Out-of-control teens are committing a growing portion of the Big Apple’s robberies, the NYPD revealed on Thursday — as Mayor Eric Adams warned that many city kids were headed toward a “career in violence.”

During a briefing on last year’s CompStat numbers, Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri said that 20% of robbery arrests during the fourth quarter involved “individuals under the age of 18,” compared to 17% for the entire year.

“Under 18, robbing New Yorkers. The statistics are out there,” he said ruefully.

Even worse, Lipetri said, “The trends continue on, unfortunately, with 10% of all shooting victims — 10% of all shooting victims in New York City — are under the age of 18.

Youngsters made up about 17% of the 9,942 robbery arrests last year, compared to 13% of those in 2021, according to NYPD data. In 2020, the statistics show minors accounted for about 19% of robbery busts.

That number was higher in pre-pandemic years, with those under 18 accounting for 27% of robbery arrests in 2019 and 23% of those in 2018, according to the data.

The disturbing statistics came despite what the mayor described as a turnaround from when he took office on Jan. 1, 2022, when “crime was on a trend increasing upward.” “We’re leaving 2022 with crime…trending downward,” Adams said.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said there was an overall decrease in major crimes during the fourth quarter, as well as during “the current seven and 28 days.”  nypost.com


Op-Ed: America's crime problem is real. Tackling it requires respect for cops

Seattle Credit Union to shut down locations over crime, cratering foot traffic



Progressive DAs Under Fire Amid Violent Crime Surge

Effort to Impeach Progressive DA Over Crime Surge
Court weighs halting Philadelphia prosecutor's impeachment
A Pennsylvania court is weighing whether to step in and stop the Legislature’s impeachment proceedings against Philadelphia’s district attorney, in a case that is part of a wave of efforts across the country to remove progressive prosecutors as violent crime rose nationally.

The separation of powers, and where legislative authority stops and the court’s begins, were central to arguments in court over a lawsuit by District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, challenging the state Legislature’s attempt to remove him from office. A four-judge Commonwealth Court panel, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, weighed precedent and authority in nearly two hours of arguments.

In his lawsuit, Krasner asked the court to halt the impeachment proceedings against him and declare not only that the Republican-controlled General Assembly lacks constitutional authority to remove local officials like him, but that the claims against him do not rise to the impeachable standard of “misbehavior in office.” news.yahoo.com


Progressive DA May Stop Impeachment - But Attorneys are Fleeing Him
Exodus: Philadelphia Prosecutors Are Leaving Larry Krasner in Droves
There is an astonishing exodus afoot from the office of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, one of the prosecutors who took office on criminal reform platforms in recent years. Krasner has been criticized for his denial of any crime wave in the city despite other Democratic leaders complaining of the rising lawlessness (culminating this week with the carjacking of Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon at gunpoint). The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Krasner’s office has lost 261 attorneys out of a staff of 340, including 70 prosecutors hired under his tenure. The office is described as in disarray with largely young, recent law school graduates carrying out the priorities and policies of Krasner. jonathanturley.org


Backers of new progressive Alameda County D.A. say they won’t let her be the next Chesa Boudin

Los Angeles prosecutor pens scathing exit letter to progressive DA George Gascon

US: 103M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 99.8M Recovered
Worldwide: 667.1M Cases - 6.7M Dead - 638.7M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 829

Most Infectious COVID Variant Yet
WHO warns of most transmissible subvariant, questions China’s covid data
World Health Organization officials expressed concern Wednesday about a new omicron subvariant of the coronavirus — its most transmissible yet — while also urging China to be more forthcoming with its data on infections and deaths amid a recent surge there.

Declining global surveillance of the coronavirus, incomplete data from China and an increase in covid-19 deaths worldwide are concerning, Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on covid-19, said at a news conference. “It is not just a matter of knowing what variants are circulating. We need the global community to assess these, to look at mutation by mutation to determine if any of these are new variants that are circulating.”

The newly tightened criteria for what China considers a covid-related death have frustrated health officials abroad trying to prepare for potential mutations from major outbreaks. It has also increased suspicion that the official death toll and number of infections in the world’s most populous country represent a significant undercount. nytimes.com
 

Sign of Things to Come for the Rest of the World?
Bodies burned in streets of China as COVID deaths surge
Graphic images appear to show families in China burning the bodies of their loved ones in the streets — a horrifying consequence of the country’s current surge in COVID cases. Chinese funeral homes and hospitals say they’ve become overwhelmed after the country’s “zero-COVID” policies were reversed last month.

Videos shared to Twitter show purported makeshift cremations taking place in the streets. In one clip, a wooden casket can be seen burning in a seemingly rural part of the country. Another video, believed to be filmed in Shanghai, shows a group of people gathered around a makeshift pyre that has been set aflame. nypost.com


New COVID omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is ‘spreading like wildfire’

Op-Ed: No government has killed more people through incompetence than China
 

FTC Targets Noncompete Clauses
FTC Proposes Rule to Ban Noncompete Clauses, Which Hurt Workers and Harm Competition

Agency estimates new rule could increase workers’ earnings by nearly $300 billion per year

The Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule that would ban employers from imposing noncompetes on their workers, a widespread and often exploitative practice that suppresses wages, hampers innovation, and blocks entrepreneurs from starting new businesses. By stopping this practice, the agency estimates that the new proposed rule could increase wages by nearly $300 billion per year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans.

The FTC is seeking public comment on the proposed rule, which is based on a preliminary finding that noncompetes constitute an unfair method of competition and therefore violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. ftc.gov

RELATED: Here's what the FTC proposal means for businesses and workers


1st Retail Bankruptcy of 2023?
Bed Bath & Beyond Prepares to File for Bankruptcy Within Weeks

Retailer’s stock plunges after it expressed substantial doubt about its ability to stay in business

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks after the home-goods retailer came up short on sales during the critical holiday season, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The retailer is in the early stages of planning for a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and the discussions could extend into February, these people said. Bed Bath & Beyond warned earlier Thursday that it might file for bankruptcy protection and that it has substantial doubt it can stay in business after enduring another quarter of deep losses and slumping sales.

Bed Bath & Beyond stock closed down 30% on Thursday at its lowest level in decades after the company said it was running low on funds and considering several options, including seeking relief in bankruptcy court. It said that sales for its third quarter, which ended in November, are expected to fall by nearly a third and that losses are expected to widen nearly 40% to $385.8 million. wsj.com


Bay Area Recovers From 'Bomb Cyclone'
Storm causes significant damage in Bay Area as region braces for more wet weather
It will take days if not weeks to clean up from the major storm that pummeled the Bay Area this week, after strong winds and heavy rain caused thousands of downed trees, hundreds of flooded roadways and hammering waves at the coast.

The storm, the product of a bomb cyclone over the Pacific Ocean and a persistent atmospheric river, was unleashed over a wide swath of California, killing two people — including a toddler in Sonoma County — and injuring several others.

Coastal areas took a beating as heavy surf, high tides and runoff combined into a destructive force Thursday, inundating homes, with Santa Cruz County seeing a wharf and two piers damaged.

And there’s still more to come, with a series of storms through Jan. 19, according to the weather service. The forecast calls for the first to arrive on Saturday. sfchronicle.com


Submit Your Proposal for GSX 2023
With over 13,000 attendees and 250 world-renowned speakers, GSX is one of the world’s largest security events. It’s the ultimate industry meeting place where members of our community can connect, learn, inspire, and grow as professionals—and individuals.

We are honored to invite you to submit a proposal to present and share your expertise at GSX 2023. The proposal submission deadline is 23 January 2023.

Visit www.gsx.org/call-for-presentations to review proposal requirements, topics, and the submission process.  gsx.org

Click here to see more of this year's upcoming conferences on the Daily's LP Event Tracker


Morphe closing all 20 of its U.S. stores

Stitch Fix cutting jobs, founder returns as interim CEO

Saving money is top of mind for shoppers: Kroger survey

U.S. economy added 223K jobs in December