Neiman Marcus Direct

Four senior senators today introduced legislation that would, for the first time, provide a federal standard for companies to safeguard consumers' personal information throughout their systems and to quickly notify consumers if those systems are breached. The Data Security and Breach Notification Act was introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Intelligence Committee; John Rockefeller, chairman of the

Losing the cat-and-mouse game with hackers, retailers are facing increased regulations and potentially significant costs in the name of protecting customers’ personal data. In a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Target and Neiman Marcus executives said even their strongest measures weren't enough to prevent the data breaches that took place during the holiday season. Target CFO Jon Mulligan told the committee that the breach at his company continued for three days after the retailer thought the malware had been handled, The Wall Street Journal reported. It seems this is a watershed moment for security in the retail industry.

Target, which suffered a massive data breach during the holiday shopping season, is speeding up a $100 million program to implement the use of chip-enabled smartcards to protect against cyber theft, a senior company executive said. In an opinion piece on Monday in The Hill newspaper on the eve of his much-awaited appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Target Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan said the retailer's goal was to have the technology in place by early 2015, more than six months ahead of schedule.

There seems to be an announcement almost weekly that a retailer has been the victim of a cyberattack in which consumer information has been stolen. Has this become the next wave of 21st century white-collar crime as the world of electronic credit and payments opens up companies to more and more thefts of financial information? As hackers’ level of sophistication increases, companies have a harder time even detecting whether computer systems have been attacked and the extent of any security breach.

Neiman Marcus said about 1.1 million credit cards may have been compromised in a data breach that occurred last year. Visa, MasterCard and Discover have notified the Dallas-based department store chain that about 2,400 cards used at its stores between July 16 and Oct. 30 were used fraudulently, according to a statement yesterday. Online shoppers weren't affected, the company said. Closely held Neiman Marcus is the second U.S. retailer to announce a customer data security breach. Minneapolis-based Target Corp. has said as many as 110 million customer accounts were compromised during the holiday shopping season by the theft of information. 

Luxury department store operator Neiman Marcus on Monday disclosed plans for a proposed public offering of up to $100 million. The retailer's plan, announced in a regulatory filing, comes some eight years after it was acquired for $5.1 billion by private equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus. In its filing, Neiman Marcus indicated a desire to expand its outlet center concept, Last Call, which currently operates 35 locations.

Neiman Marcus Group announced that Joshua Schulman has been appointed president of Bergdorf Goodman, effective May 7. Schulman, 40, joins Bergdorf Goodman from Jimmy Choo, where he was CEO. In this role, Schulman oversaw the international expansion of the brand and the growth of jimmychoo.com. Prior to Jimmy Choo, Schulman was president, Kenneth Cole New York, and managing director, international strategic alliances, Gap, Inc.

Karen Katz, president and CEO of Neiman Marcus announced that John E. Koryl will be joining the company, June 20, as president of Neiman Marcus Direct. Koryl succeeds Gerald Barnes, who will become EVP, chief merchant Neiman Marcus Direct.

Neiman Marcus will be completely mobile by fall as part of its multichannel contact strategy to drive long-term growth, according to the company’s top executive who keynoted the Luxury Interactive 2010 Conference. “We will be completely mobile by August with any type of mobile device,” said Gerald Barnes, president/CEO of Neiman Marcus Direct.

As the holiday season winds down, many consumers will move on to the next phase of the shopping process — making returns, a fact of life that can be brutal to many mailers’ bottom lines. According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive for returns management solutions provider Newgistics, 90 percent of direct shoppers cited a convenient returns policy as very important, important or somewhat important in deciding to shop with a new or unknown online or catalog retailer. The survey polled 1,017 American adult shoppers during the Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 23-25). “Customers are concerned that if it doesn’t fit right or