Consumer Affairs & Relations

The Food Marketing Institute and National Retail Federation will combine their existing risk and safety signature events into one cross-industry event starting in 2018.   The two groups will sponsor Protect in 2018, according to an announcement made Wednesday at the FMI’s Audit, Safety, Asset Protection Conference in Orlando.   

State-of-the-art digital screens that can identify demographic information of passersby and pitch them personalized offers from brands are making their way into Westfield malls in top DMAs.   Employing a proprietary suite of technologies, the six-foot-tall, high-definition screens scan passersby and — apparently through smartphone data and facial imaging — determine their demographic profiles to serve them customized ads.  

Sears Holding Corp. tried to walk back the uproar it caused early Tuesday morning when the struggling retailer included cautionary language about whether it would be able to continue as a "going concern” in its annual 10-K filing.   

Saks Fifth Avenue is the latest retailer to compromise the personal data of some of its shoppers.   Saks inadvertently exposed personal information, including email ad-dresses and phone numbers of some of its shoppers on its online shop-ping site this weekend, according to BuzzFeed News.   

Bolstered by positive consumer indicators, retail CFOs are largely optimistic for 2017. But competition and consolidation could cloud their outlook.    That’s according to BDO USA’s 11th annual Retail Compass Survey of CFOs, in which respondents predict a 4.9% bump in total sales this year, up from 3.4% in 2016. The bullish predictions are echoed by online sales projections, with a 10.7% increase expected for the year ahead — the highest in survey history.   

An official from the town of North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina is looking forward to more jobs and tourist income from the expansion of a shopping center in the beach resort area.   RealtyLink, a developer of power centers in the Southeast and Midwest, is about halfway done with its phase three expansion of the Coastal North Town Center & Village Shoppes on Highway 17. The 147,000-sq.-ft. addition will take the center size beyond 540,000 sq. ft.  

A strong performance in Asia helped Tiffany & Co. beat fourth quarter expectations even as sales as its U.S. stores sagged.   The luxury jeweler reported net income of $157.8 million, or $1.26 per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared with $163.2 million, or $1.28 per share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for asset impairment costs, per-share earnings were $1.45, beating the per-share earnings of $1.37 that industry analysts had expected.  

The ax has fallen: J.C. Penney has released the list of 138 stores it plans to close.