Fraud

Shopping online is becoming the new norm for consumers. Consider that U.S. e-commerce sales grew 14.6 percent in 2015 year-over-year, according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department. The fast-growing popularity of e-commerce brings new challenges to retailers, however. In a Market Track 360 Strategy whitepaper, four of these top challenges were identified and analyzed.…

Personal information included on tax forms of Sprouts’ employees was compromised in a phishing scam. Last week, a payroll department employee at the company's headquarters in Arizona responded to an email thought to be from a company senior executive. In the email, the person asked for the 2015 W-2 statements of all Sprouts workers. The employee complied…

Avi Kaner, a co-owner of the Morton Williams supermarket chain in New York, has spent about $700,000 to update the payment terminals at his stores. Trouble is, he cannot turn them on. The new terminals can accept credit and debit cards with embedded digital chips, a security feature intended to reduce the number of fraudulent purchases. But before…

Independent business owners must constantly seek out business expense line items to minimize in order to keep costs low and preserve margin in an era of increasing local and global competition. Despite this constant pressure, however, a business owner can’t simply skimp on the quality or range of services offered to clients and customers without…

As we come to the close of the holiday season, retailers will be experiencing an uptick in gift card sales, whether for their own store brand or for others. Almost half of all consumers received a gift card last Christmas, and 62 percent of consumers said they would like to receive a gift card. Along…

Costco willfully infringed Tiffany & Co's trademarks by selling counterfeit diamond engagement rings bearing the luxury retailer's name, and now must face a jury trial to assess damages, a U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan rejected claims by Costco that Tiffany's trademarks were invalid because they sought to prevent…

There are still several weeks of summer fun, but consumers are already fast-forwarding to the winter months and starting their holiday shopping. In fact, several retailers have already started offering holiday deals to beat the November and December rush. For example, Amazon.com launched Prime Day in July, and consumers ordered more than 34.4 million items,…

Last year, China overtook the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. That milestone drew attention to the explosion of online retail sales in China, which had built up speedily over a number of consecutive years of significant growth. In 2014 alone, Chinese online retail sales grew 50 percent to reach $450 billion. Despite these impressive…

It took luxury-goods makers about a decade to realize that the internet represented an opportunity. Now, they’re finally figuring out it’s also a threat. As companies from LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE to Kering SA increasingly sell online, top brands are stepping up efforts to combat web sales of counterfeit and grey-market goods. Gucci…

The freshness of mobile transactions has become both an asset and a pitfall. Mobile payments are on the rise. The ease of use and excitement of convenience allow for shoppers to feel differently about spending money. The ability to use an app on their cellphone that's already in their hand makes making payments not only…