Consumer Affairs & Relations

Minneapolis – Target Corp. has reportedly reached a settlement with Visa Inc. that will reimburse issuers of Visa cards for costs related to the retailer’s 2013 data breach. According to the Wall Street Journal, the agreement will reimburse thousands of card issuers for potentially up to $67 million.

 In a shift to quality over quantity, Walmart has cut expansion plans for its Neighborhood Market stores despite the format’s consistently strong top line growth in recent years.

Toano, Va. – Shuffling in the executive ranks continues at embattled Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc., in the wake of accusations the retailer sold Chinese hardwood laminate products that had illegal levels of formaldehyde. Lumber Liquidators has hired Jill Witter as chief compliance and legal officer.  

Target has reached an agreement with Visa card issuers to reimburse costs related to a data breach at the retailer in 2013.

According to The Wall Street Journal, agreement, which could entail as much as $67 million in reimbursement costs, comes three months after a proposed $19 million settlement between Target and Mastercard fell through.

Read more about the deal by clicking here.

The CEO of Amazon.com is hitting back against an article in the New York Times over the weekend that accuses the retailer of having a ruthless and even abusive workplace culture.

According to CNBC, an internal memo (excerpt below) from CEO Jeff Bezos being circulated at Amazon.com calls the article inaccurate and beyond “isolated anecdotes.” Bezos also made the rounds on newspaper websites and on cable TV lambasting the Times article as "not the Amazon" he knows.

New York – Organized crime groups targeting retail have a new opponent. Multiple retailers and law enforcement agencies across multiple locations and jurisdictions are banding together to form the Retail Organized Crime Coalition (ROCC).

The ROCC, which will officially launch and introduce its members at the Retail Fraud – New York conference on Sept. 24, will combat chronic retail organized crime through case referrals, education and the distribution of timely intelligence.

Retail consulting firm McMillanDoolittle, Chicago, weighs in on its blog with three reasons why any retailer using the practice of “on-call” labor scheduling should end it immediately.

Retailers rely on a combination of dividend payments and share repurchase programs to return cash to stockholders, but the latter method is coming under scrutiny as Democrats look to leverage the populist theme of income inequality during the 2016 presidential campaign.