Hong Kong Retail Sales Slump 24% as Chaos Continues to Cripple Economy
Hong Kong's retail sales suffered a record contraction in October, as the city counts the cost of almost six months of political unrest.

Retail sales by value contracted by 24.3% in the month from a year earlier, the fourth month of double-digit declines. By volume, sales contracted by 26.2%, also a record. bloomberg.com

Wisc. Supreme Court Rules Multiple Shoplifting Cases Can Count as Single Felony
The Associated Press reports that the ruling stems from a case in Green County. Prosecutors there charged Autumn Marie Love Lopez and Amy Rodriguez with a felony in 2017 in connection with seven incidents of shoplifting at a Monroe Wal-Mart. According to court documents, Lopez worked at the Wal-Mart and voided out purchases Rodriguez made at a self-checkout register. They allegedly stole $1,452 worth of merchandise.

The women argued that prosecutors can't combine shoplifting counts into a single charge and they should instead face multiple misdemeanor counts. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling 5-2 on Thursday that Wisconsin statutes allow for multiple thefts to be prosecuted as a single crime and the definition of the crime includes retail theft. The women's attorney didn't immediately return a message. cwbradio.com

Anchorage retailers & PD take new measures to discourage shoplifters
Shoplifting Increase Questioned by Anchorage PD
That spike isn't necessarily because more shoplifting is happening as much as "it's about more people getting caught due to more officers on the street," APD spokesman MJ Thim said in an email.

Some Anchorage retailers, like Andy's, have cracked down on shoplifting over the last few years. Stores are putting more merchandise under lock and key and examining customer traffic patterns in stores. The Fred Meyer store in Midtown closed off one of its entrances in an effort to curb the problem. The Anchorage Police Department has also stepped up enforcement. Arrests for shoplifting have spiked since 2016.

Shoplifting arrests by the Anchorage Police Department dipped in 2016 and then spiked the next two years. In 2015, the city made 2,263 arrests for shoplifting, and that dropped to 2,030 the following year. In 2017 there were 2,406 arrests, and last year 2,504. Up 23% Over 2016.

"The increased enforcement will certainly increase arrests in the short term, and we expect it to decrease overall theft in the long term," Thim said.

Another major effort from Anchorage police is what the department calls its "retail blitz" or "retail detail" program, which started in late 2017. Two of those blitzes last year at Fred Meyer stores - in Midtown and East Anchorage - resulted in dozens of arrests through sting operations. stockdailydish.com

FCC Takes Steps Toward Squeezing Out Huawei, ZTE
FCC Funds Can No Longer Be Used to Buy Their Gear; Rip-and-Replace Plan Proposed.

The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously Friday to ban telecommunications companies from using FCC funds to buy equipment from Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE because they pose a "national security threat." The move comes as telecom firms are ramping up their efforts to build 5G networks. govinfosecurity.com

Walnut Creek, CA: Black Friday Fur Protest Inside Store Following Statewide Ban on Fur Sale
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) animal rights activists demonstrated at a Walnut Creek fur store on Black Friday, less than a week after the store's opening. A woman, Cassie King, masqueraded as a manager, welcoming customers into the store with satirical enthusiasm, describing the violent, cruel ways animals in the fur industry are treated and killed.

This comes amid a wave of retailers, fashion designers and celebrities dropping fur, and as California became the first state to ban fur sales just last month. (The California ban is set to go into effect on January 1, 2023.) indybay.org

Black Friday shopping at brick-and-mortar stores dropped by 6% as consumers spent record online
Black Friday sales for brick-and-mortar stores dropped 6.2% after shopping on Thanksgiving Day rose 2.3%, according to ShopperTrak data.

The pullback in brick-and-mortar stores mirrored a surge in Black Friday online shopping, which hit $7.4 billion, an all-time record for the day, according to Adobe Analytics. cnbc.com

Sensormatic Solutions Releases Black Friday Results
from ShopperTrak Traffic Data Analytics
Johnson Controls announced that Sensormatic Solutions, its leading global retail solutions portfolio, released preliminary shopper visit data for brick-and-mortar retail stores and shopping centers on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Findings indicate that shopper visits resulted in a combined 3 percent decline for the two-day period compared to last year. However, we saw a shift that included a 2.3 percent increase in traffic on Thanksgiving Day and a 6.2 percent decline in traffic on Black Friday versus 2018. Additionally, there was a small shift of in-store traffic away from the beginning of the week and into both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, dispelling the idea that in-store traffic is moving away from the holiday and farther into November.

"There is no longer one way to shop on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. As omnichannel retail and online shopping continue to grow in popularity, consumers turned to emerging fulfillment solutions, like buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS), this year," said Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting for ShopperTrak. "As a result of these shopping options, there is a rise of intentional shoppers in-store. During exceptionally busy times, these customers are more intent on purchasing and less on just browsing, making their BOPIS pickup when the stores aren't as crowded."

"Black Friday continues to remain the busiest shopping day of the year by a long shot," said Field. "Shopping in physical stores during the holidays continues to be an exciting annual event for consumers. With eight of the 10 predicted busiest shopping days still to come, including Super Saturday, which will fall on Dec. 21 this year, retailers are in for a successful holiday season." businesswire.com

For more insights on the 2019 most busiest shopping days, view Sensormatic's infographic in today's Vendor Spotlight below.

Black Friday - Winners & Losers
2019 The Tipping Point Between Digital & Real World
Adobe Analytics estimates that the sales for the full weekend (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday) will top $29 billion, or 20% of total revenue for the full holiday season, up from 19% last year.

By the end of Black Friday, retailers had rung up a record $7.4 billion in online sales alone, just shy of the record $7.9 billion during last year's Cyber Monday event, according to Adobe Analytics.

It's a marked shift, seen especially on mobile, that underscores how retailers have finally caught up to consumers when it comes to seeing no daylight between online and offline channels. "This is the year that will go down in the history books as the tipping point between digital and real world," Jon Reily, head of global commerce strategy at Publicis Sapient, told Retail Dive in an interview. "We knew it was coming and 2019 is the year." 

Winner: Mobile

U.S. digital sales grew 17% to $4.1 billion, according to Salesforce on Thanksgiving Day. Mobile orders increased 35% on Black Friday this year, with 65% of all e-commerce flowing through a mobile device, Salesforce also found. Of the more than $900 million total sales made by Shopify merchants, 69% of purchases were made on mobile, with the remaining 31% on desktop.

Winner: Stores with pickup services

One out of every five online purchases will be picked up in the store.

Loser: Retail margins

Of the 32 retailers visited by Coresight this past weekend, 25 offered promotions, with discounts averaging 37% to 47%. "Shoppers seemed motivated by Black Friday deals this year." retaildive.com

Coresight Research: Holiday 2019: US Black Friday Insights
On November 29, the Coresight Research team undertook its annual tour of stores for Black Friday. We visited 65 stores of 32 different retailers in the US. We had shoppers in New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Illinois, at outlets, luxury malls, downtown locations, neighborhood centers and regional malls. In this report, we analyze each store according our proprietary BEST framework for physical retail.

Store activity varied greatly: There were long lines at American Eagle Outfitters, Bed Bath and Beyond, the Nike Outlet, Old Navy and Target; but there were no wait times at Costco and drugstores.

Ann Taylor, Bed Bath & Beyond, Bloomingdale's, Ulta Beauty and Walmart were the top five retailers this Black Friday, ranked according to Coresight Research's BEST framework.

Of the 32 retailers visited, 25 offered promotions, with discounts averaging 37-47%.  Read Full Ranking.
 

Director, Distribution Security & Safety - North America posted for Michael Kors in Whittier, CA

A.C. Moore Going Out of Business (145 stores) - Michaels Picks Up 40 & a DC

Holiday Sales Won't Stop the Closures & Bankrupticies

FedEx to Move 33M Packages on Cyber Monday Alone


Quarterly Results

Dick's Sporting Goods Q3 comp's up 6%, net sales up 5.6%, online sales up 13%
Citi Trends Q3 comp's up 2.6%, sales up 4.4%
Dollar Tree Q3 comp's up 2.5%, sales up 3.7%
Best Buy Q3 comp's up 1.7%, revenue up 1.7%
Abercrombie & Fitch Q3 comp's flat, sales up 0.2%
Chico's Q3 comp's down 2.2%


Last week's #1 article --

Houston, TX: Target customer files federal discrimination lawsuit after she's wrongly accused of stealing
Newly released security video shows man filling $300 vacuum box with junk

A woman filed a federal lawsuit against Target after she says she was discriminated against and accused of stealing. Annie Banerjee, an Indian born Houston immigration attorney, bought what she thought was a $300 brand new Dyson vacuum cleaner from Target on San Felipe Street in the Galleria area. But what she ended up with was a box full of junk, including dirty towels, rocks and a can of chili.

In newly released security video from inside the store released by Target, you see a man with a small child in his shopping cart entering the store. That same man is then seen taking off the anti-theft device on a brand new Dyson vacuum cleaner. Also, in his shopping cart, you see what Banerjee's attorney calls a "dummy Dyson box," full of junk. The video shows him placing the dummy box on the floor and paying for some other merchandise before leaving the store. The video also shows an employee wrapping the dummy box with the junk inside with the anti-theft device before putting it back on a store shelf. click2houston.com