Kansas City

Sheplers, a western-wear retailer, on Friday reported it had been victimized by a data breach in which customer credit card information was exposed to hackers. The company said the breach involved credit cards used at its stores between June 11 and Sept. 4. Sheplers said it doesn't believe the incident affected its online store. The company said it's working with law enforcement investigators, but "at the present time, we believe it's safe to use payment cards at Sheplers." According to the company, the customer information at risk includes names, account numbers for credit and debit cards, and card expiration dates.

Tribute bands pretend to be something else. Their motivation may be out of admiration, but essentially these musicians copy successful bands right down to dress, hair style and accent. Tribute bands appeal to a subset of fans of the bands being imitated. They limit their potential by pretending to be musicians perceived to be more talented than themselves. Is your company a tribute band? Are you constantly pretending to be your competitor? Here are some ways to tell:

Many consumer catalogers have unknown gold nuggets in their database. These nuggets are called businesses. If you treat these high-value customers as if they're retail customers, you're missing a big opportunity. If your product line has this cross-over appeal, you could potentially double your sales through expansion into the B-to-B universe.

Deft, Netherlands-based IKEA plans to incorporate geothermal technology into the heating and cooling system of its future Kansas City-area store. The store, which is under construction in Merriam,...

The strongest promotion in this spotlight comes from Ray-Ban, in large part due to its branding. Ray-Ban is hosting "Envision the Possibilities," encouraging consumers around the world to contribute their visions to the #EnvisionSeries gallery. Ray-Ban has two Facebook apps working for the promotion. The first app is for "Never Hide Films," which right now is featuring "insanely talented people who are changing the way we view creativity in social media." The second, called "Social Visionaries," scans public Facebook data to create personalized videos: "The Social Brilliance of [Facebook Username]."