Target

Sears Holdings said a review of its systems doesn't show evidence yet of a data breach as retailers continue to stay on guard in light of the payment card terminal hacking at Target and Neiman Marcus. The department store chain is the latest company to say it's investigating a possible breach. "There have been rumors and reports throughout the retail industry of security incidents at various retailers, and we're actively reviewing our systems to determine if we've been a victim of a breach," wrote Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications at Sears Holdings, in an email.

Best Buy apparently told about 2,000 managers around the United States on Wednesday that they were being laid off, a move that would be the company's biggest job reduction since July 2012 as it continues to cut costs following a weaker-than-expected holiday season. The layoffs will affect about 1.4 percent of Best Buy's 145,000-person workforce, the Star Tribune learned. 

Verizon is reportedly investigating two more breaches at retailers that appear to have been hacked at the same time as the massive holiday data breach at Target. According to The Wall Street Journal, Verizon contacted the unnamed retailers last week. It's not clear which retailers may be involved in these subsequent breaches. New York-based Verizon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

For some retailers, the grass is greener on the other side … of the pond, that is. Emaciated traffic and extreme price competition have left the industry in a slugfest just to achieve positive domestic same-store sales. As a result, many retailers have been looking to plant their flags overseas, scouring Europe and emerging markets in search of growth. While the strategy has proven successful for some U.S. firms going abroad — as well as international companies gaining entry in the United States — some within the industry say the globalization of retail has brought with it a new challenge.

The hackers who raided the credit card payment system of Neiman Marcus Group set off alerts on the company’s security systems about 60,000 times as they slunk through the network, according to an internal company investigation. The hackers moved unnoticed in the company’s computers for more than eight months, sometimes tripping hundreds of alerts daily because their card-stealing software was deleted automatically each day from the Dallas-based retailer's payment registers and had to be constantly reloaded. Card data were taken from July through October. 

When Canadians crossed the border into the United States on shopping excursions, Target was a prime destination. But when Target crossed the border last year and brought its stores to Canada, the magic somehow vanished. Lost in the turmoil over the immense theft of Target's customer information in the U.S. has been the remarkable failure of its Canadian expansion. Instead of reaching profitability by the end of the year, as Target had hoped, analysts expect that the company will report this week that the Canadian operations produced an $8 billion to $9 billion loss. 

Gone are the days of cheesy banner ads and flashy display ads, where clicks only happened by pure accident. Consumers have become immune to these digital billboards, and advertisers are scrambling to find new ways to get their attention. These days, if you want consumers to even notice your ad, you need to deliver something of value — content that provides utility, not interruption. This is where transactional marketing comes into play.

Target's computer security staff advised the retailer to review the security of its payment card system at least two months before hackers stole 40 million credit and debit card numbers from its servers, according to several reports published Friday. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal and American Banker published stories on their websites that said at least one intelligence analyst at the Minneapolis-based retailer wanted to do a more thorough security review of its payment systems' vulnerability to malware, but the request was brushed off.

Retail and financial trade associations have banded together to combat cyber crime in wake of the Target data breach. The new cybersecurity partnership will focus on exploring paths to increased information sharing, better card security technology and maintaining the trust of customers. Discussion regarding the partnership was initiated by the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), joined by the American Bankers Association (ABA), the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the National Restaurant Association (NRA), the National Retail Federation (NRF) and others.

L.L.Bean is No. 1 in online customer experience, according to the e-tailing group's 2013 Customer Experience Index, which is based on a mystery shopping study conducted during the fourth quarter of 2013. L.L.Bean received a top score of 88.75, followed by HSN at 87.25. Other retailers scoring higher than 80 included Office Depot, Overstock.com, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Sears, Abt, Target and Dick's Sporting Goods. The average score in 2013 was 71.06, up from 69.3 in 2012. Repeat winners from 2012 included Amazon and Office Depot.