Target, Inc.

New York -- Bryan Sartin, director of Verizon’s RISK Team, will discuss the link between security breaches and automated building management systems at Chain Store Age’s 50th annual SPECS Conference, March 9-12, 2014
Gaylord Texan Hotel Grapevine, Texas.

Sartin heads the Research, Investigations, Solutions, Knowledge (RISK) Team at Verizon Enterprise Solutions. The Team has 106 full-time investigation staff who come from law enforcement, military, military intelligence, and specialty engineering.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. saw dramatic year-over-year declines in its net earnings for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013, as the negative impact of its massive data breach and damages from its Canadian operations took effect. The chain warned that continuing costs related to the breach may affect its profits in the first quarter of fiscal 2014.

Target continues to cope with the fallout of a data breach, which, as expected, hurt the company’s fourth-quarter results.

The company incurred $61 million in expenses related to the breach during the quarter, but was able to bring the total impact to $17 million after applying a $44 million insurance payment.

But the retailer added that it is not only unable to estimate future expenses related to the data breach but also warned that those costs may adversely affect operations results in the first quarter and full-year 2014 and future periods.

Target has been ramping up digital efforts for a few years now, but its Digital Vendor Marketing (DVM) team is putting the retailer on the mobile games map.

Target sees mobile games as an opportunity to directly reach customers and showcase the brands and vendors on its store shelves.

“We’re really focused on creating great games for guests that are simple, yet challenging enough to make you want to play again and again,” says Dawn Block, who oversees the DVM team as a VP of Target.com and mobile.

“Ongoing investigation.” “Forensics and law enforcement continue to investigate.” For now, it is a bit too early to write the “Lessons Learned” piece about the Target/Neiman Marcus/Michaels data breach incident. But there are a few things that were known before these latest payment card/database breaches occurred and should be put into context in light of what we are currently investigating.

New York -- Traditional retail categories are increasingly blurring, and more and more shoppers are turning to drug stores and other types of outlets to buy groceries, according to a survey of Millenial, Gen X and Baby Boomer consumers. The study was conducted by retail design firm King Retail Solutions in conjunction with the University of Arizona Center for Retailing.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Customer satisfaction improved for a third consecutive year for retail. According to a report released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the retail sector overall gained 1.7% to an ACSI benchmark of 77.9, boosted by higher customer satisfaction with specialty retail stores, supermarkets, drug stores, and gasoline service stations.

Minneapolis – Security staff at Target Corp. reportedly warned management of the risk of a cyber attack before the retailer’s widely publicized November 2013 data breach took place. According to the Wall Street Journal, at least one security analyst at Target recommended the retailer perform a more thorough review of its payment network as early as September 2013.