Camping World (CWI, Inc.)

Washington, D.C. – Assorted advocacy groups and professional associations, including the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Merchant Financial Cyber Partnership, are urging the White House to take steps to improve cybersecurity for retail transactions. The public call comes as President Obama convenes a daylong Cybersecurity Summit at Stanford University on Feb. 13. The summit, which will include a keynote speech by the president, is part of a renewed drive to combat cyber hackers.

More than 200 retail and technology professionals surveyed on show floor at the recent National Retail Federation convention offered a mix of disturbing and enlightening thoughts on the state of EMV readiness, omnichannel investments and mobile wallet winners.

The survey conducted in person by representatives of payments company ACI Worldwide at NRF’s Big Show revealed that:

The National Retail Federation “Big Show” is always a good barometer of what trends will influence the retail technology landscape for the coming year, and the just-completed 2015 edition was no exception. Based on the buzz on the show floor and at keynotes and sessions, 2015 should be an eventful and possibly transformative year in retail IT.

Here are five technology trends that really stood out.

Inventory Gets Smart

Washington, D.C. - The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and six other merchant associations have sent a letter rebutting recent comments about payment card security from the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA). Specifically, the letter outlines three points.  

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart is offering an online gift card exchange called CardCash.com that will offer consumers up to 97% of the face value of another retailer’s gift card in the form of a Wal-Mart e-gift card. The retailer has set up a site where customers can enter the card number, PIN and some basic personal information so it can verify card balance before making an offer.  

By Joe Majka, Verifone   President Obama’s BuySecure Initiative sets the U.S. Government on track to adopt chip and PIN payment security, parallels - and seeks to encourage - a commercial industry shift toward EMV card technology.    

By: David Kidd,  Peak 10
 
Data privacy and security remain top concerns for retailers. There is good reason for that.  The Target breach compromised approximately 70 million records. The Home Depot breach potentially impacted another 60 million consumers. As I write this article, reports are being made public about a breach involving the office supply retailer Staples. We can no longer deny that cybercrime is a real and growing threat to the retail sector.

Atlanta -- This year, a Halloween that fell on Friday helped boost spending growth in October, according to the monthly SpendTrend report from First Data Corp. 

 

Reliability and customer comfort are just two of the advantages casual dining chain Hooters of America receives from its POS environment, which is based on traditional fixed POS terminals. The Atlanta-based chain, which operates 190 corporate stores as well as 12 franchised locations where it supports POS operations, has been using POS hardware from Posiflex Business Machines since 2006.

San Francisco –- New Seasons Market (NSM) is deploying the new Index online commerce personalization solution at its stores to deliver end-to-end security and personalized customer experiences. The collaboration with Index provides NSM with a real-time understanding of customer behavior while helping to deliver relevant product recommendations and shopping experiences that savvy consumers now expect both online and offline.