At the point of sale in a brick-and-mortar retail location, staff members can review a number of data points to avoid online fraud. They can check a card's signature against the one placed on a receipt, verify that the name on the card matches the individual holding it or otherwise reduce the chance of an illegitimate sale. They can also note the quality of goods before a customer leaves the store. 

With ecommerce, though, merchants can experience an increased risk of fraud. Unauthorized cardholders may purchase items, resulting in lost profit when the actual account holder reports the theft. In the United States alone, $54 billion is lost every year to this crime both on the Internet and off, and according to a recent study from Kount Volumatic, credit cards are responsible for 83 percent of all online fraud. 

Potential preventative tools
There have been some advances made to reduce the chance of online fraud, though. Internet Retailer recently reported on the launch of Signifyd's fraud prevention software, which uses social media to help verify someone's identity. A 1,000 point scale gauges the risk involved in each transaction, and gives retailers the ability to deny suspicious looking sales.

The source explained the technology, noting that if an online purchase was made from a San Francisco IP address on a card with a French billing address, Signifyd will then analyze social media data. It would check for geolocation tagged Twitter or Facebook posts to verify that the card holder was in San Francisco, and if the risk scale were too low, the transaction could automatically be denied. 

"We know that people leave a lot of footprints behind," Raj Ramanand, co-founder and CEO of Signifyd, told Internet Retailer. "We're using those footprints to try to stop the people looking to commit fraud."

Despite this technology, though, not all retail industry professionals are adequately safeguarding against fraud. Kount Volumatic noted that many merchants fail to implement prevention strategies for mobile sales, regardless of the fact that 34 percent of them offer m-commerce shopping options. As more stores move to include smartphone- and tablet-capable POS systems, and as more customers shop on their personal devices, additional security measures may be necessary to save millions of dollars and reduce the chance of shrinkage. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Saturday, October 19th, 2013 at 10:32 pm .

Shopping habits vary based on a number of factors, and gender may be a key differentiator for mobile commerce. A recent study from SeeWhy discovered that 22.2 percent of men have completed a purchase on their smartphone, in comparison to 18.2 percent of women. A similar difference was found with tablets, with more men (20.4 percent) buying items on the device than women (16.9 percent). 

However, SeeWhy revealed that generation also factors strongly into how different genders shop on these devices. Among 18 to 24 year olds, men and women shop on smartphones roughly the similar amount of time, while five percent more women (19.8 percent) are likely to buy products through their tablets than men (14 percent). 

The study also revealed that during tablet-based transactions, the indecision of female shoppers led to about twice as many incomplete transactions as men. 

As m-commerce becomes a more critical component of the retail industry, merchants should consider what devices their customers will be shopping on and the audience they are trying to reach. Rather than considering mobile optimization as a single channel, industry professionals may better target potential customers by separating mobile commerce into smartphone- and tablet-based sales avenues. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 17th, 2013 at 1:34 am .

Departmental silos can slow work down and hinder store operations. The ability for merchants to seamlessly integrate their online offerings with brick-and-mortar sales, as well as move inventory through the warehouse from shelf to point of sale, are all important to an efficiently running a business. 

Retail Pro 9 grants decision-makers greater transparency and more fluid workflow throughout all levels of their organization, while including critical monitoring and analytics tools to enhance services. Its near real-time reporting features let merchants know what is happening, when it is happening. Retail industry professionals can learn more about the platform tomorrow during the Retail Pro 9 webinar from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT. Registration information is available at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/205809666.

Participants will be able to learn about the flexibility and customizability the solution provides to their business. During the session, Ket Venethongkham, Director of Retail Pro University, and James McGibbon, a Trainer at Retail Pro University, will cover topics such as Retail Pro 9's integrated ecommerce capabilities, employee security and management tools and its centralized transaction controls. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 17th, 2013 at 12:54 am .

For any ecommerce merchant, the Monday after Black Friday, also known as Cyber Monday, is the most significant sales day of the year. In 2012, it generated $1.46 billion and set a record as the heaviest online spending day ever, according to comScore. This was a 17 percent increase from Cyber Monday sales in 2011, and as smartphone and tablet adoption rises, trends suggest that 2013 will also experience considerable Internet-based sales growth. 

An early jump on Cyber Monday
Merchants should ensure that their ecommerce software is up to the task of handling the substantial volume of visitors expected on Cyber Monday, but they should also realize that other retailers are trying to boost their online revenue before the sales date. After all, Cyber Monday won't occur until December 2 this year. The holiday shopping season has been cut short and Target already ran a Cyber Monday sale in September, Daily Finance reported. The source highlighted that many of its deals fell well short of the savings that should be expected on the real date, but this suggests that some businesses are trying to stretch out the otherwise brief purchasing period. 

Along with Target, Daily Finance noted that Sephora, Toys R Us and Pottery Barn were also offering holiday promotions in September. However, Jon Lal, founder of BeFrugal.com, felt that early promotions make sense for retailers, but not consumers. 

"But from a consumer's point of view, it's important that you have a plan for what you're going to do around holiday shopping," Lal told the source, "and when you start shopping early, it's a little harder to stick to a plan and keep track of what you've spent."

Potential November-wide sales increase
Another factor to consider is that Hannukah occurs before Thanksgiving this year, which could lead to a sales bump before Black Friday. This could add to the sales intensity that happens all month long. ComScore found that online sales throughout November rose 15 percent between 2011 and 2012, with a 28 percent increase on Black Friday and 32 percent jump on Thanksgiving. The shortened holiday sales season may result in a more compressed shopping season, or purchases may be more spread throughout the time leading up to it. Merchants should prepare their staff and point of sale software in either case, to ensure a good customer experience and steady flow of products to shelves. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 17th, 2013 at 12:22 am .

In just a few days, retail industry professionals from across the world will converge on Barcelona, Spain, for the 2013 Retail Pro Global Conference. Attendees can learn about the changes affecting the market and how they can adapt to point of sale evolution across multiple channels. Participants will get a glimpse of the retail technology they can deploy to manage their businesses, while having the opportunity to network with their colleagues. 

The two-part conference will be split between the Retail Pro Business Partners Summit scheduled for October 18-20, and the Customers Summit planned for October 20-22. Business Partners and Customers who are still considering the event can find the agendas for both summits at https://www.retailpro.com/Community/2013Conference/Agenda.php.

As retail software plays an important role in running a streamlined organization, both summits will include a session from Bill Colley, Retail Pro SVP of Development, and Kevin Connor, Retail Pro Director of Product Management. They will present "The Roadmap for the Present & the Future of Our Products," during which they will discuss Retail Pro product development in the past year, as well as releases planned for the future. Other topics throughout the conference will include omnichannel retail, mobile commerce and the importance of business intelligence. 

Retail Pro Business Partners and Customers can register now for the 2013 Global Conference at https://www.retailpro.com/Community/2013Conference/Registration.php.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 at 10:10 pm .

The rapid evolution of retail technology is changing how consumers shop and merchants operate, but staying up-to-date with all of these changes can be difficult. Separating hype from reality, as well as knowing what recent innovations are most beneficial to business intelligence, management and improving the customer experience, can also be hard. 

Because of this, Retail Pro Business Partners and Customers can attend the upcoming 2013 Retail Pro Global Conference being held in Barcelona, Spain, later this month. The Business Partner Summit will be held between October 18-20, while the Customer Summit is scheduled for October 20-22. Detailed agendas for both events are available at https://www.retailpro.com/Community/2013Conference/Agenda.php. 

In addition to presentations about omnichannel retail, m-commerce and other important topics, a Customer Forum will allow participants to ask what's on their minds to professionals from around the world, or provide their insight into the state of the industry. For Business Partners, Kerry Lemos, CEO of Retail Pro International, will address the transformation of the sales landscape and how decision-makers can play a leading role as it continues to advance. 

Registration information for the Retail Pro Global Conference can be found at https://www.retailpro.com/Community/2013Conference/Registration.php.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 10th, 2013 at 12:34 pm .

Due to the influence of e-commerce retailers such as Amazon and Zappos, many customers expect their online purchases to involve free shipping after a certain price threshold. The option of overnight or same-day-delivery is another critical tool in some merchants' belts and is a possible way to persuade consumers away from competitors. 

However, retail industry professionals may wonder which of the two is the more important to emphasize with their shoppers, or which is more key to integrate into ongoing operations. Internet Retailer recently reported on findings from Forrester Research that indicated consumers are more interested in free delivery than fast shipping. 

This makes sense. After all, lower prices are frequently one of the advantages to shopping online. If customers wanted to pay more to have something right away, they could buy the product or service at the nearest brick-and-mortar store. 

Of course, being able to offer both free delivery and quick shipping times can provide a powerful incentive for shoppers to change retailers. The Forrester report noted that 92 percent of the top 50 e-retailers provide free delivery to their customers. Coupling that with fast shipping can aid merchants at winning over consumers.

Improve delivery costs and speed
However, providing also entails considerable investment and efficiency in delivery methods. To provide inexpensive shipping, some retailers are turning their brick-and-mortar locations into shipping centers, according to the Detroit Free Press. This allows them to stay competitive against e-commerce giants like Amazon. Rather than shipping from central warehouses, distributed store networks are also often closer to their customers. 

"Amazon has already beaten most retailers on price and selection. The third battleground is location and the smart retailers are not conceding that," said Tom Allason, founder of start-up Shutl, which helps retailers deliver online orders from stores.

For merchants to turn their physical locations into mini delivery hubs, they will have to implement retail software that overcomes departmental silos and can manage the point of sale from the digital shopping cart to the brick-and-mortar store that will deliver goods. The Detroit Free Press noted that Wal-Mart started applying this strategy two years ago and that it has had great success with it so far. Other retailers that begin using this shipping method could experience a notable reduction in related costs, all while providing better service to their customers. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 10th, 2013 at 7:34 am .

While QR codes are a familiar sight, they often go unused by passers-by. Accessing the information inherent to the codes typically involves a number of steps, from downloading a special app to using them to properly sync a smartphone camera with the image – which may be difficult on public transportation, or more effort than the act is worth on a crowded sidewalk. 

But PayPal may finally have found a use for QR codes: to process payments. According to Retail Customer Experience, PayPal will be introducing a new "Payment Code" app that lets customers shop by scanning QR codes with their smartphones. This is but another step toward mobile payments, which companies like PayPal, Google and Apple have been pushing for. 

The source explained that after customers finish shopping, the app will display a QR code that merchants can scan with their point of sale system to tally the price of all items. Should the retailer lack a QR code scanner, the app will issue a four-digit pin that can be entered to complete the purchase. As with so many advances, the adoption of this technology will likely rely on how conveniently and simply it works. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, October 10th, 2013 at 5:27 am .

Turning data into strategy is a critical component to modern retail, but it often requires the right tools to recognize sales trends and apply them in a productive manner. The point of sale offers a wealth of knowledge about customers, but only to those industry professionals able to record and analyze it. 

Retail Pro Business Intelligence helps merchants get the most out of their information and transform it into actionable data. The platform allows executives and experts to visualize their store operations, and it can enhance all levels of a business while delivering a 2,000 percent ROI. A webinar detailing the system is scheduled for tomorrow and will run from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT. Merchants can register at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/662755202.

Drawing upon nearly 20 years of experience in the industry, Neil McKeown, Product Manager for Retail Pro E-Commerce and Retail Pro Business Intelligence, will lead the webinar. He will provide his unique insight and expertise about the platform's ability to extract strategic planning from raw data and help merchants improve their performance. 

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, October 9th, 2013 at 10:27 am .

Sunny Barcelona, Spain, will play host to this year's Retail Pro Global Conference. In less than two weeks, Retail Pro Business Partners and Customers will be able to speak with their colleagues from across the world about upcoming trends in omnichannel sales, how retail intelligence is changing the shopping landscape and what they can do to adapt the point of sale to an increasingly mobile-oriented consumer base. 

Split into two parts, the Retail Pro Business Partners Summit will be held on October 18-20, and will be followed by the Customers Summit on October 20-22. The agendas for both events are available at https://www.retailpro.com/Community/2013Conference/Agenda.php.

Henry Helgeson, CEO of Merchant Warehouse, will be among one of the many speakers meeting with Retail Pro Customers. His presentation, "Opportunities in Mobile Commerce: Why Retailers Hold the Power," will map out the role mobile payments will play in the future and how merchants can ensure they integrate smoothly into online and offline purchases.

Business Partners will have their own smartphone and tablet-focused session with Kevin Connor, Retail Pro Director of Product Management, and Ket Venethongkham, Director of Retail Pro University. "POS for the Mobile-Centric Consumer" will detail how the POS must move to a more flexible model that reflects the way customers prefer to shop. 

Retail Pro Business Partners and Customers can register now for the 2013 Global Conference at https://www.retailpro.com/Community/2013Conference/Registration.php.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, October 8th, 2013 at 10:02 am .