Legal

DHS Cracks Down on Counterfeit Goods Sold on Amazon, Other Marketplaces
January 28, 2020 at 9:42 am

The Trump administration is cracking down on the sale of counterfeit products online from platforms like Amazon.com, according to a new report released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Law enforcement officials will immediately start to identify cases where counterfeit goods are being sold online, according to the report, and will “pursue civil fines and other…

Retail Outlook 2020: Privacy Gets Real
January 27, 2020 at 12:46 pm

As brands turn to automated intelligence to meet expectations for great customer experiences, new restrictions are being placed on the data collected to inform those experiences. On Jan. 1, California enacted the nation’s strictest data privacy law, following on the heels of Vermont, which has been regulating online data brokers since January 2019. In Europe,…

The Top Sales Tax Changes Coming in 2020
January 21, 2020 at 9:19 am

With dozens of states imposing new collection requirements on out-of-state sellers and marketplace facilitators, 2019 was a tumultuous year for sales tax. In its own way, 2020 promises to be no less turbulent. Wayfair Fallout Continues Like its predecessor, 2019 was all about South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. The June 2018 decision by the Supreme…

How Retailers Can Mitigate the Ripple Effect of a Consumer Consent and Privacy Compliance Request
January 10, 2020 at 11:43 am

Rooted in increased regulation such as GDPR and CCPA and general customer backlash, a growing emphasis on collecting consent and ensuring privacy of customer data exists. In this environment, the “cost” of compliance is a top-of-mind factor for retailers, but how “cost” is considered varies from organization to organization. Irrespective of an organization’s approach, the…

What Retailers Need to Know About the ‘Californication’ of GDPR
December 19, 2019 at 9:01 am

The point of the broad-based California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), signed by California Governor Jerry Brown in June, is to protect consumer data. For retailers wondering if the CCPA will impact their business, time is limited to figure out if and how. If you're a retailer selling products online and already compliant with the General Data…

Compliance or Bust: Retail’s Shift Workforce of the Future
December 17, 2019 at 10:08 am

Labor compliance issues have long plagued the retail supply chain, from sourcing to brick-and-mortar employee operations. Consider the tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911, perhaps one of the most well-known labor compliance fiascos in the retail industry’s history, which was a direct result of abhorrent worker conditions. Thankfully, compliance issues of this caliber…

Are You Ready? Preparing for CCPA and the New Era of Data Regulations
December 6, 2019 at 11:20 am

There’s no understating the impact that small computer in your pocket has made on retail. But governmental bodies are starting to reckon with it. Starting January 2020, California will enact the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). CCPA follows in the footsteps of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and precedes the Brazilian Data…

Under Armour Cooperating With Federal Investigators Over Accounting Probe
November 4, 2019 at 2:48 pm

A day after reports were published that  Under Armour is at the center of a federal investigation, executives at the company are maintaining that its accounting practices are above board, according to a report from Business Insider. On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the retailer's accounting practices have been under federal investigation by the…

Supreme Court’s Wayfair Ruling Devastating to Online Merchants
November 1, 2019 at 10:21 am

The American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA) recently conducted a follow-up poll to see how e-commerce, catalog, direct and other remote merchants have fared since the Supreme Court’s June 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., which overturned the old Quill v. North Dakota remote sales tax collection physical presence standard. The first poll was…

Destination Maternity Files for Bankruptcy, Closing 183 Stores
October 24, 2019 at 11:53 am

Destination  Maternity, owner of brands such as A Pea in the Pod and Motherhood, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company plans to shutter 183 stores. The move comes after the Moorestown, N.J., retailer has struggled for years to regain its footing…