Retail

Target Corp. has become the first major credit card issuer to convert to cards with PINS, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. The new cards will be MasterCards and will contain computer chips as well as PINs.

The world’s largest retailer plans to grow sales by $45 billion to $60 billion in the next three years and spend $20 billion buying back its own shares.

The growth targets, stock buyback program and an $11 billion capital expenditure program, down from $12.4 billion this year, were announced Wednesday morning in New York at the retailer’s annual fall investor conference.

Another company is offering in-app mobile purchase functionality, but this time it’s not a retailer or a technology provider.

U.S. bank Capital One is partnering with MasterCard and Visa to offer contactless mobile payment capability in its Capital One Wallet app. Leveraging the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) and Visa Token Service (VTS) platforms, Capital One will use NFC-enabled Android phones to transmit a secure payment token to the point-of-sale.

The latest retail data breach demonstrates that hackers will victimize whoever is vulnerable.

America’s Thrift Stores, an Alabama-based, 18-store for-profit chain that sells donated items and then contributes a significant portion of the profit to local charities, has been breached, Hackers used malware to compromise the systems of a third-party service provider, which gave them access to the America’s Thrift Stores network.

The Retail Design Institute, the oldest and largest association for design professionals, and Chain Store Age, the leading authority on retail operations and producer of the annual SPECS conference, are partnering on the Institute’s 45th Annual International Store Design Competition.

Food Lion has come up with an artistic way to connect with the communities it serves and feed the hungry at the same time.

The retailer is inviting kids ages 5-14 to participate in its Food Lion Feeds "Summers Without Hunger" Design-a-Reusable-Bag Contest. The winning design will be featured on next year's Food Lion Feeds reusable bag, which will be sold in more than 1,100 stores in June. The campaign is anticipated to help provide another 1 million meals to families and children in need. 

The majority of retailers are not doing a very good job when it comes to integrating online channels with brick-and-mortar stores.

What’s more, many retailers are not properly balancing their investment spend, sometimes investing more in online while neglecting their physical stores, which puts them in danger of losing market share.