Stores Weekly
First Edition
Fighting returns with data and policy changes
Serial returning is a costly subset of return fraud, used by organized retail criminals and made more damaging every year. Last year NRF’s ORC survey found 29 percent of retailers had reported an increase in fraud involving items purchased online and picked up in-store. Now some companies are tracking customers associated with high levels of returns and adopting new policies to deal with the growing problem.

NRF is proud to provide our members with the online Retail Buying Guide to search for trusted vendors, products and services in the retail industry. Our guide is a user-friendly forum designed to bring suppliers and purchasers together. You can search by keyword, location, company name or category. Available whenever you need it, the Retail Buying Guide makes it easy to locate products and professional services geared to the retail industry. Click here to visit the online Retail Buying Guide! To advertise, please contact Sarah Allen for more information.

   
Oki Data Americas, Inc.
      
Port of Los Angeles
   
Pay attention to Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat wants retailers to forget everything they think they know about veggie burgers. STORES talks with Seth Goldman, the company’s executive chairman about replacing the term “veggie burger” with Beyond Burger — a plant-based protein that’s shaking up America’s kitchens and leaving a lasting impression on Wall Street.

The digital edition of STORES includes must-read pieces, including the articles featured here. Read the current issue and browse the archives for issues you may have missed.

Datalogic USA, Inc.
Cut TCO by 15% on barcode devices
Retailers have relied on rugged handheld devices for over 30 years to boost efficiency and productivity. All along, devices have suffered from failures due to charging contacts that get dirty, corrode, or break. Wireless charging prevents device failure, drastically reducing TCO. An enterprise can easily reduce TCO by 15% or more deploying wireless charging devices.
Download the White Paper
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Trends
Security continues to get more clear
CLEAR, which scans eyes and fingertips to verify the identity of airport travelers, has decidedly solidified another field of play. There’s now a “fast lane” at Progressive Field baseball park in Cleveland, first made available at this spring’s Indians series against the Miami Marlins.
Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese — and a three-story glass wall
A new three-story, high-tech McDonald’s flagship at the corner of 45th and Broadway in New York City is helping visitors take a fresh bite out of the Big Apple. The new restaurant, designed by Landini Associates with architecture by Progressive AE, aims to provide a simple, modern and calm atmosphere in the heart of the action — all while allowing diners to see it below through a glass wall.
NRF News
The workforce of the future: how retailers can prepare
Demographic, social and technological changes are causing retailers to reevaluate their approach to building teams and workplace cultures. Carrie Duarte, a leader in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Workforce of the Future initiative, joins NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast to talk about how organizations can keep up with the pace of change, from finding new sources of talent to the business case for diversity and inclusion. Listen here and subscribe.
Back-to-school shopping continues as classes begin
Families surveyed at the beginning of this month had completed just over half their shopping for school supplies, according to NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Consumers with children in kindergarten through high school had completed 54 percent of their shopping with 49 percent planning to make their final purchase one-to-two weeks before the start of school. Read more.
Save up to $400 on NRF 2020 by Friday
NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show will be a marketplace for ideas and relationships. Retailers will be able to forge new partnerships, try out best-in-class experiences and learn from some of the biggest players transforming retail by attending the conference in New York City, January 12-14, 2020. Retailers who register by Friday will receive the preview rate and save up to $400 on a full conference pass.
Capango
Your Stores Deserve Champions!
With a mobile-first user experience, Capango eliminates the need for resumes by capturing data points about the Seeker—such as location, availability, interests, and skill sets—in just a few taps. By automatically matching Seekers with jobs based on tags selected when creating a job posting, Capango helps employers get one step closer to finding the perfect hire.
Find the Right Hires!
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Retail Deals

Lowe’s will carry more than 10,000 licensed NFL-branded merchandise items on Lowes.com/NFL and will launch an online video “homegating” series that will inspire fans as they prepare for the NFL season.

 
ProShip Inc., a global provider of automated multi-carrier shipping software, has announced it will provide advanced shipping functionality to GNC, a health and wellness brand, boosting efficiency and exceeding customer expectations.

 

Browns Shoes is putting its best foot forward by working with Opterus Inc., the leading global provider of cost-effective, web-based store communications and task management solutions.

 

The Vitamin Shoppe, a leading omnichannel specialty retailer of nutritional products, is partnering with RELEX Solutions to ensure its customers can easily find the products they need to live their best lives — however they define it.

 

GIANT Food Stores has entered into an agreement with Musser’s Markets to acquire its three Pennsylvania locations located in Columbia, Lebanon and Quarryville.

 

Toshiba, the global market share leader for integrated in-store retail solutions, is setting out to optimize store operations for Smart & Final, the value-oriented food and everyday staples retailer, by ensuring its store systems remain fully operational 365 days a year using Toshiba’s wall-to-wall managed services.