Retail News For VARs — May 30, 2014
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In the news, a report shows use of iPads in stores has led to demonstrated success for one global retailer, particularly when paired with other digital advances. Also, researchers found college students to be wary of mobile payments, and a study by the University of Cambridge has suggested that EMV cards are not impervious to attacks. In addition, RILA has joined with various top U.S. retail brands to create a new, independent organization (R-CISC) that has a Retail Information Sharing and Analysis Center at its core.
Sales Success Tied To Use Of iPads In Stores
EssentialRetail.com reported that preliminary results released by Burberry reflect a rise in retail sales and profitability, particularly as a result of its use of tablet devices in stores around the world. The company’s like-for-like retail sales for the 12 months ending March 31, 2014 were up 15 percent year over year, and orders taken on iPads in-store accounted for more than a quarter of digital sales made during the period.
College Students Wary Of Mobile Payments
A study done by Balance Innovations found that 42 percent of 2,503 college students surveyed would “probably not” or “definitely not” make more mobile payments if they were widely available. Another 42 percent said that they would use their mobile phone “somewhat more, depending on the retailer or purchase,” while 16 percent of respondents said they absolutely would use mobile payments “all the time.”
Study Claims EMV Cards Not Impervious to Attacks
University of Cambridge researchers say they found two serious problems with the chips that could make them vulnerable to “pre-play” attacks, which are indistinguishable from the very card cloning the cards are designed to prevent. At the center of the security flaws is the “nonce,” or the unpredictable 32-bit number used in EMV ATM and point-of-sale transactions to signify they’re fresh and can’t be reused again by fraudsters. Some EMV implementers, the researchers found, have used simple counters, timestamps, or homegrown algorithms to supply the nonce.
CyberSecurity Goes Collaborative
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), in conjunction with various top U.S. retail brands, has launched the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center (R-CISC), an independent organization with a Retail Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Retail-ISAC) at its core. Among the participating companies are American Eagle Outfitters, Gap Inc., J. C. Penney Co. Inc., Lowe’s Cos., Inc., Nike, Inc., Safeway, Inc., Target Corp., VF Corp., and Walgreen Co.
Retail IT Talking Points
In this interview with payments.com, Forte CEO, Jeff Thorness, explains how he sees the omni-channel retail space evolving, the importance of data in delivering an omni-channel reality, and what Forte is doing to help merchants adapt. He stressed that early adopters would have a huge advantage, and that omni-channeling transcends the retail industry.