Target

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.

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.

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.

By now, it's old hat for brand-name designers to team up with discount retailers (Stella McCartney for H&M, Isaac Mizrahi for Target, Vera Wang for Kohl's, to name just a few). Target now plans to dip into a new pool of talent by partnering with three of Pinterest's top influencers. Joy Cho of Oh Joy, Jan Halvarson of Poppytalk and Kate Arends of Wit & Delight, who, in addition to being Pinterest darlings also write fashion blogs or work in design in some capacity, will collaborate with the retailer on limited-edition collections of party items. 

In an interview with Retail Online Integration in advance of next week's webinar, How to Prevent a Massive Data Breach Disaster, Chris Strand, PCIP, security compliance practice director for Bit9, a provider of software and network security services, offered his thoughts on the value of data protection in the wake of recent breaches that have left many consumers on edge.

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.

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

The news headlines of 2013 have perpetuated the idea that the retail industry, just like any other industry, isn't immune to cyber attacks. Just within the past several weeks we've seen the largest retail data breach to date when Target saw 110 million transactions compromised, and the expectation is that this won't be the last time — for Target or any other retailer. As a result, we'll see some significant changes this year with regard to how retailers protect their sensitive data and consumer buying behavior.

Take a look at key omni-channel retail trends emerging worldwide and hear about IBM’s retail integration solutions.