Data Security

Business is growing for Lux Group, an Australian pure-play e-commerce business offering single-category shopping, including experiences such as dining and entertainment, designer fashion and home goods, and luxury global travel packages. However, growing from two to 15 online brands in its first five years of operation caused the firm to outgrow its accounting and ERP…

Thirty years ago I worked as a loss prevention officer at a major national retailer. For hours at a time, I walked the aisles, keeping an eye out for suspicious characters. When I spied a shoplifter, I followed them out of the store, confronted them, and either recovered the pilfered goods or contacted the police.…

Eddie Bauer said yesterday that its point-of-sale systems at retail stores were affected by malware, enabling unauthorized parties to access customers’ payment card information used at any of its 350 stores in the U.S. and Canada on various dates between Jan. 2, 2016 and July 17, 2016. Eddie Bauer is currently in the process of notifying…

The pace of business is accelerating. In 1860, the first westbound pony express trip left St. Joseph, Missouri for San Francisco and arrived 10 days later. Quite a feat, but this morning my email inbox filled faster than I could open messages. Or, even if the pace of business remains relatively steady, certainly the pace…

Every e-tailer fears its website going down, however, a website that’s been reduced to a snail’s pace because of a high volume of traffic can almost be more damaging. Today’s always-on consumers expect lightning-fast connections and load times, as if everyone can deliver the same user experience as Netflix. In fact, a study from Kissmetrics…

In a recent conversation with the chief information security officer for a major retailer, I heard something that changed my perspective on the true impact cyber incidents can have on companies. He said, “At the end of the day, we sell basic consumer goods and people can go anywhere to get those things. It all…

After much talk about it over the last few years, the use of big data and mobile to improve consumers’ lives seems to finally be poised to become reality, and this is opening a new level of relationships between brands and their customers. The amount of data we have the capability to collect now is…

The back-to-school shopping season is upon us, and retailers’ e-commerce sites should be prepared for a shopping frenzy. eMarketer forecasts that this year's back-to-school sales will total $828.81 billion, a 2.6 percent increase over 2015. Furthermore, the e-commerce portion of back-to-school sales will continue to grow, jumping 15.3 percent this year to $65.42 billion. That…

Retailers large and small have taken it on the chin from hackers again this year. In addition to ongoing credit card scraping attacks on point-of-sale systems, this year brought an onslaught of successful phishing data attacks targeting W-2 documents with employees’ tax and identity information. One recent example was Sprouts, a Phoenix-based supermarket chain with…

Traditionally, retailers’ marketing teams have been responsible for brand awareness and increasing market share through typical efforts such as email campaigns, ads and promotions. The emergence of the digital business era, marked by a sharp uptick in shopping online, has rocked marketing teams to their core. They must now expand their focus to consider IT…