Target

Target said Monday that Chief Executive and Chairman Gregg Steinhafel is leaving in the wake of the devastating data breach late last year that hurt profits, shook customer confidence in the No. 3 U.S. retailer and prompted congressional hearings. "After extensive discussions, the board and Gregg Steinhafel have decided that now is the right time for new leadership at Target," Target's board said in a statement released on Monday. Target named Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan as interim president and CEO, and Roxanne Austin, a current member of Target's board of directors, as interim non-executive chair of the board.

I'm here to say that the reason for Sears’ 78 percent stock price plunge from its peak in April 2007 — and associated tattered financials that are putting it incrementally into the grave — is the outcome of a culture of losing. This attitude emanates from the top brass and permeates the entire organization, resulting in customer needs not being satisfied. In turn, that's led to material market share being gobbled up by the likes of Wal-Mart, Target and, of course, Amazon.com. 

Target, which is recovering from a massive data breach, on Tuesday named high-profile information technology consultant Bob DeRodes as chief information officer. The discount retailer's previous CIO resigned in March, several months after the data breach, which included the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records of customer details late last year. DeRodes has been a senior information technology advisor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In light of the recent Target data breach, "fraud" has once again turned into the word du jour in the e-commerce arena. Now more than ever, U.S. players across the e-commerce payments chain — especially retailers and card issuers — are extremely wary to accept online card payments originating from foreign countries. Since a cure-all hasn't yet been created to completely nullify the global online fraud epidemic, Europe (and the rest of the world) isn't immune to fraudulent activity. As such, most U.S. online retailers and card-issuing banks have put into place preventative measurements to try to reduce the amount of European-based fraudulent activity that affects their online customers. In fact, many banks will automatically decline card authorizations from certain countries.

Target, Nordstrom and other big retail chains are pinning their hopes of attracting shoppers on social media. Retailers increasingly are using Pinterest to draw business to their own sites. Shoes, handbags and other popular items on Pinterest are being prominently displayed in Nordstrom stores with special tags. Target, the nation's No. 2 discounter, is creating exclusive party-planning collections with top Pinterest users, or "pinners." And Caribou created a coffee blend that was inspired by the coffee chain's Pinterest fans.

Target is vastly expanding the goods available to order by subscription as it fends off its biggest nontraditional retail rival, Amazon.com. The nation's second-largest discounter first dabbled with subscriptions last September, trying to win over haggard parents by making available 150 baby care products. Target expanded that program more than tenfold this week to nearly 1,600 items across a much wider array of products. Everything from beauty products and pet supplies to home office supplies are now available for regular delivery.

Target's massive data breach continues to reverberate in the headlines, but in reality it's just one of countless attacks that affect the retail industry on a daily basis. Whether it's highly sophisticated malware developed out of Russia, local hit-and-run point-of-sale thieves or insider threats, retailers must adapt to this increasingly risky environment. First of all, it's important for retailers to understand that just because you meet PCI compliance doesn't mean you're not at risk. PCI is the bare minimum that your company should be doing to protect itself — but it won't stop today's more sophisticated attacks.

After last year's massive security breaches at Target and Neiman Marcus Group, data-security professionals urged U.S. retailers to upgrade their credit and debit card technology to reduce fraud. Companies have been slow to embrace the more secure payment systems that have been widely used in Europe and Asia for years, mostly because of the expense and a lack of synchronization among retailers, credit card providers and banks.

When Eric Ryan helped start Method Products in 2001, the market for environmentally friendly soaps and cleaning products, he recalled, was a "niche of a niche of a niche." No longer. Target, one of the country's largest retailers, announced on Tuesday that it would expand its inventory of "natural, organic and sustainable" goods to meet growing customer demand. The company said it would introduce more than 120 new products over the next several months, and unveiled a new umbrella category for these items: "Made to Matter — Handpicked by Target."

For any number of reasons, from the upswing in cyberattacks to the need for maximum uptime and access to the web, retailers are eager to create stronger business continuity plans. In the past, to a certain degree, the disciplines of IT security and business continuity were separated. IT professionals handled security and data protection while business continuity was more under the realm of risk managers. Retailers today demand that this divide be narrowed, especially in light of the serious IT breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and elsewhere that threatened customer loyalty and brand image. On the business continuity front, retailers need a solid response plan in place for customer and compliance reasons.