Don't Shoot The Big Bad Wolf - He's Just The Messenger!
Forcing retailers to innovate and take risks
"Retail Needs a Hero" & One SVP Believes LP Can Be Retail's Hero
Big day for technology evolution and justification in the D&D Daily today.

From Facial Recognition to RFID, Robots, Scan & Go, and BOPUS with all of them now considered future must haves in order to compete with the Big Bad Wolf Amazon.

But maybe Amazon isn't the Big Bad Wolf. Maybe he's just the messenger that woke retail up and said get with it or die.

And look at how Loss Prevention & Asset Protection has been leading some of those efforts and introduced a number of them via our surveillance, inventory, and shrink reduction efforts and deliverables.

As one speaker said in a 2018 NRF PROTECT loss prevention conference presentation by James Mullan, senior vice president of GDR USA, called “Retail’s Secret Innovation Lab: How LP can be the modern-day heroes that future-proof your business.”

Where he basically said retail needs a new hero — someone to take the lead in innovation. Which raises a question: If the marketing/innovation or IT teams can’t get it done, who can make innovation happen? Mullan’s candidate is loss prevention. stores.org

Read the rest of this article on page two.


Facial Recognition & Face First

Stores See a Future Without ‘May I Help You?’ (They’ll Already Have Your Data)
CEO Saks Fifth's parent - stores will be able to recognize customers as soon as they walk in
More Stores to Incorporate the Digital Data Collection That's Powered the Online World
Facial Recognition's Face First Makes It's Main Stage Retail Entrance - Industry First?
The message came through loud and clear last week at Shoptalk conference in Las Vegas. There they shared the bets that they’re making on Americans’ evolving shopping habits and how they plan to maintain relevance in an era that’s changing faster than the spin of a roulette wheel.

“You can’t out-Amazon Amazon,” said Helena Foulkes, the chief executive of Hudson’s Bay, which owns Saks and Lord & Taylor. “We’re never going to be the best pure-play retailer. What we have to do is marry digital tools with our store experience.”

Ms. Foulkes, who spoke at a conference event held by Recode, said she anticipated that years from now, stores would be able to immediately know customers’ identities and personal preferences when they arrived, thanks to data collection. That knowledge, she said, will be used to make their shopping experiences easier.

A presentation by FaceFirst demonstrated how retailers could use its facial-recognition technology to engage with customers after they walked into stores.

The company’s chief executive, Peter Trepp, showed how stores could send automatic text messages to shoppers and receive their profiles to assist them better. He showed an example of a profile, which contained a shopper’s visit history, the minutes she spent in the store on her last trip, what she bought during that visit and the sum of her online purchases with the store’s chain.

In an email exchange after the conference, Mr. Trepp emphasized that the company was focused on the privacy and security of customer data. He said that “most of what we’ve sold in the past is related to loss prevention and mitigating organized retail crime,” meaning the technology has been used to identify shoplifters and known criminals.

“However,” Mr. Trepp said, “we see our business shifting toward providing solutions for improving the customer experience and believe that opt-in solutions like these will become the largest part of our business in the future. We are working with several large retailers on this today.”  nytimes.com


RFID - Real-Time Analytics - Surveillance - Safety

There's a big inventory problem in retail. Can robots help?
Inventory mishaps behind staggering revenue loss in physical retail
Inventory management robots could help brick-and-mortar regain some of the footing lost to ecommerce.

Physical retailers are painfully aware of revenue they lose due to theft, and all major retailers have loss management protocols to minimize the bleeding. But general inventory mismanagement could be a far more pressing issue. According to a new survey, inventory management issues account for far more lost revenue than theft.

The survey, conducted by Wakefield Research and commissioned by robotics company Bossa Nova, includes perspectives from dozens of corporate retail professionals with a title of Director or greater at companies with $500m+ in annual revenue. The results suggest an ongoing catastrophe in how inventory is tracked and forecast in the $1.3 trillion retail sector.

Over 70 percent of those surveyed, for example, stated that inaccurate inventory forecasting is a major issue, resulting in costly supply-demand mismatches. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed reported some difficulty tracking inventory through the supply chain.

It's not for lack of trying. Over 90 percent of retailers surveyed reported their stores spend more time identifying inventory issues than they do implementing solutions. On ground level, retail employees typically spend more time filling out-of-stock holes on shelves than interacting with customers.

Bossa Nova, the company that commissioned the survey, believes shelf-scanning robots are a crucial part of the answer. Bossa Nova's robots roam stores autonomously and scan merchandise on shelves to help retailers keep track of inventory more efficiently than employees with scanning guns.

Data these roving robots can collect is invaluable, giving retailers insights about how items are performing in near-real time. That data can help brick-and-mortar stores make smarter forecasting decisions, reducing out-of-stock occurrences and helping stores prune poor-performing items.

Editor's Note: Is this the big push for RFID that we've been waiting for? zdnet.com


Contactless Payments - Scan & Go - Facial Recognition - CCTV's

More Amazon Just Walk Out Disruption
More C-Stores Looking At Scan & Pay Frictionless Payments
As Amazon Go's 3,000 Stores is Disrupting That 150K+ Store Industry
Wawa could have added mobile payment to its food ordering kiosks, but that may have deterred impulse purchases as customers walk around the store, he said.

7-Eleven, in November, began piloting Scan & Pay via the 7-Eleven app at 14 stores in the Dallas area, allowing customers to skip the checkout line.

A number of c-stores—including Cruizers, Domino and Enmarket, are turning to Skip, which aspires to beat Amazon at providing frictionless checkout to 3,000 locations. It was scheduled to roll out to 275 locations by the end of first quarter.

“Once you download the Skip app, create your account, set up your wallet and walk in the store,” Wilson said. “The app notifies store employees that you are in the store on a monitor behind the counter. As you shop, you scan the barcode of the items you pick up and pay at the end. Once your payment is accepted, you walk out.” c-stores.com

Apple Pay the most widely accepted form of mobile payment in the U.S.
According to the 20th annual "POS/Customer Engagement Survey," which was released this year by BRP.

Look for mobile payments to become more accepted, but at a slower rate than projected in prior surveys, according to BRP. The impetus behind that growth will be retailers upgrading existing POS hardware and software. Plus, it will be important for chains to remain competitive as convenient mobile payment becomes more commonplace. cstoredecisions.com

BOPUS Up 30%
85% of BOPUS Customers Buy More in Store Worldwide
81.4% of internet users worldwide reported ordering items online for in-store pickup (up nearly 30 percentage points from the year prior).

"Consumers get convenience, instant gratification and avoid shipping costs. Retailers reduce operational costs, and it gives them the opportunity to bring customers back to physical stores for additional purchase opportunities."

Half of shoppers recently surveyed by Doddle said that they decide where to make online purchases based on BOPUS availability. Once in-store, 85% make additional purchases when picking up an online order. emarketer.com

Is home goods the next retail sector ripe for disruption?

rue21 To Roll Out BOPUS at All It's 700+ Stores

Loss Prevention Foundation Announces Newest Associate Level Partner: Iverify
The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) announced its newest Associate Level Partner, Iverify Security. The Associate level partnership secures numerous LPQ and LPC certification course scholarships for Iverify to distribute to industry professionals. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC and founded in 2002, Iverify is a full-service interactive security company providing life safety, loss prevention, cyber breach reduction and brand protection. yourlpf.org

Modern Policing: Algorithm Helps NYPD Spot Crime Patterns
Linking Robberies, Larcenies and Thefts of Hundreds of Thousands of Crimes
Case Example - Home Depot Syringe-Wielding Drill Thief
When a syringe-wielding drill thief tried sticking up a Home Depot near Yankee Stadium, police figured out quickly that it wasn't a one-off. A man had also used a syringe a few weeks earlier while stealing a drill at another Home Depot 7 miles (11 kilometers) south in Manhattan.

The software, dubbed Patternizr, allows crime analysts stationed in each of the department's 77 precincts to compare robberies, larcenies and thefts to hundreds of thousands of crimes logged in the NYPD's database, transforming their hunt for crime patterns with the click of a button. It's more comprehensive, too, with analysts able to spot patterns across the city instead of just in their precinct. Bronx crime analyst Rebecca Shutt, who worked on the Home Depot case. "That was incredibly helpful. That could have been a pattern that wasn't made."

Evan Levine, the NYPD's assistant commissioner of data analytics, and Alex Chohlas-Wood, the department's former director of analytics, spent two years developing the software before rolling it out in December 2016.

The department disclosed its use of the technology only this month, with Levine and Chohlas-Wood detailing their work in the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics in an article alerting other departments how they could create similar software. Speaking about it with the news media for the first time, they told The Associated Press recently that theirs is the first police department in the country to use a pattern-recognition tool like this.

"The goal of Patternizr is, of course, to improve public safety," said Levine, an astrophysicist by academic training. "The more easily that we can identify patterns in those crimes, the more quickly we can identify and apprehend perpetrators." edmdigest.com

Every Uniformed Patrol Officer in New York Now Wears a Body Camera
An additional 4,000 officers in specialized commands, like the Emergency Service Unit, are supposed to get the cameras by August, which would make the city’s body-camera program the largest in the world. Still, don’t expect the Police Department to release videos of every arrest or encounter anytime soon. The department, however, has yet to release any of the videos that were held up while the lawsuit was pending. nytimes.com

Homeland Security officials launch new Global Trade Task Force (GTTF) to protect national security, thwart counterfeits
Homeland Security officials recently launched its Global Trade Task Force (GTTF), a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)-led multi-agency effort that leverages robust import and export controls and investigative authorities to combat illicit commercial activities. Authorities announced results from a recent task force effort Monday at Detroit’s Fort Street Cargo Facility. ice.gov

Across the Pond in the UK - Response is Almost the Same
Facial Recognition in Retail and Its Implications
Retail crime is continuing to rise as police intervention is on the decline.

The BRC believes crime cost retailers £700 million in 2017, a 6% year-on-year increase. At the same time, it has emerged police are not investigating theft of items worth less than £200. The onus is being placed on retailers to take matters into their own hands and as a result they have begun experimenting with facial recognition technology to identify suspected thieves.

A couple of major food retailers in the UK and a number of independent and non-food stores are in trials and to this point are enabling the food retailers to reduce theft by 40-50% during the 12-week trials.

We absolutely say this [facial recognition] technology shouldn't be deployed at all,” says Hannah Couchman, the policy lead on surveillance tech for Liberty. “We don't think there is any adequate law that covers facial recognition and even if there were, our concerns would remain about privacy, freedom of expression, and discrimination.” essentiaalretail.com

Editor's Note: They're going through the exact issues the States are going through as well. As police forces around the UK start to increasingly use facial recognition, they're facing this same group, although rather small it does cause pressure. However, a number of retailers are deploying it. Especially with decreasing police response on shoplifting cases.

PowerReviews Launches Journey IQ, the Industry's First Scalable Mystery Shopping Solution
PowerReviews, a technology leader enabling connected commerce for leading brands around the world, today announced the acquisition of Stella Pulse, a technology from StellaService that will transform traditional mystery shopping. This new solution, called Journey IQ, is based on a decade of experience working with mystery shopping clients seeking a smarter, more scalable solution. Journey IQ enables companies to recruit their own customers as mystery shoppers and delivers more representative and actionable insights at scale. prnewswire.com

UK Retailer Ted Baker's CEO Resigns Over Misconduct Allegations
Misconduct allegations stemming from his habit of hugging colleagues.

Ted Baker had announced an independent investigation into misconduct claims against Kelvin in December after an online campaign claiming to represent over 200 employees asking to end “forced hugging” and “a culture that leaves harassment unchallenged.”

The retailer said the investigation would continue until the end of the first quarter or early in the second quarter with the focus turning to Ted Baker’s policies, procedures and handling of complaints. reuters.com

Amazon gets Washington state legislative win on non-compete clauses
The protections would partially prohibit non-compete clauses — controversial agreements used by tech companies and others to block employees from going to work for competitors or launching rival startups.

The bill passed the Washington state Senate Tuesday with the salary threshold set at $100,000 - the level sought by Amazon. Employees above the threshold would be exempted from the labor protection. The original wage threshold in the measure was about $180,000.

Other provisions require some protections for workers making more than $100,000, including an 18-month limit on any non-compete clauses they sign and a requirement that employees must be compensated while they are barred from working. The original proposal.

The measure now heads to the state House for consideration.

Millions of U.S. workers sign non-compete agreements. A handful of states, including California, prohibit such agreements. apnews.com

Retail sales rebound in January, Up 3.6% over 2018
Retail sales rebounded in January, increasing 1.3 percent seasonally adjusted from December and 3.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year, the National Retail Federation said today. The numbers exclude automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants.

Building materials and garden supply stores were up 10.4%
Online and other non-store sales were up 6.3% nrf.com

A Really Bad Retail Sales Report
The January retail sales report wasn’t just less strong than it appeared; it was downright weak. Scratch its surface and it is quickly apparent that the January retail sales report wasn’t as good as it appeared at first glance. Dig a little deeper and it actually looks awful.

The Commerce Department on Monday reported that retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in January from December, better than the flat reading that economists expected. A measure excluding sales at motor vehicle dealers, gasoline stations, hardware stores and restaurants—the so-called control group economists use to track gross domestic product—rose a sharp 1.1%. wsj.com

2019 Retail store closures hit 4,810 - With 2,264 Store openings
"We are still over-stored," Marie Driscoll, managing director of luxury and fashion for Coresight, said. "But in some places - the A malls - people are panting to get into those locations. So it's all a question of where you are and what you're paying to be there. But the overall, secular trend is still for store rationalization." cnbc.com

Manager, Emergency Management & Planning, Global Safety and Security
New Job Posted by WeWork - based in New York, NY
Working in collaboration with other Emergency Management and Global Security professionals, the Manager for Emergency Management and Planning is tasked with the development and implementation of Emergency Management drills, trainings and exercises across WeCompany business lines at the Corporate, Regional, and Territory level. Together with the Senior Manager, the Manager will write, refine, implement and monitor Emergency Management standards, policies and procedures.

WeWork provides shared workspaces for technology startup subculture communities, and services for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, small businesses and large enterprises. Founded in 2010, WeWork is headquartered in New York City and operates 605 locations globally, with 101 on the way. wework.com

Paramus, N.J., Zip Code Highest Retail Sales in U.S.

Walmart associates to share $207 million in cash bonuses for Q4

Last week's #1 article --

Walmart US CEO says half his store visits make him 'grumpy'
- and he's turning up the heat on managers

Continuing Education Credits Now Available through the 2019 LPRC Supply Chain Protection Summit
This year’s theme: Beyond Retail Supply Chain Security

The Supply Chain Protection Summit, taking place next week, March 12 – 13, in Sunny Isles Beach, FL, is a chance for supply chain security professionals to come together and review LPRC research on supply chain protection issues, hear from industry experts on how to improve supply chain protection operations, and to collectively form & discuss the research agenda for the next year. Attendees are now eligible to earn up to 3 credits towards their CFI Certification and 8 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) toward their LPC Re-Certifications.

This year’s focus will be advancing retail supply chain security by adapting insights from other sectors, and fostering closer cooperation with manufacturers, distributors, and law enforcement. View the agenda and finalize your plans today!