On June 11, 2015, the Fraud 360 World Tour comes to downtown Toronto to deliver a free half-day seminar on their trademark 360° view of fraud. A complimentary continental breakfast and lunch will also be provided. Register quickly because seating is limited. 
 
The seminar will be held at the Hyatt Regency, located at 370 King Street West. Bring your notepad and questions and learn from fraud experts about current data, global trends, changes in Payment Card Industry compliance and future forecasting affecting transactions.
 
Schedule:
 
8:30 am – Registration / Continental breakfast
9:00 am – Welcome – Session 1 & 2
10:30 am – Break
10:45 am – Session 3 & 4
12:15 pm – Lunch / Q&A
 
Sessions will provide an overview on timely topics and best practice standards that you can adapt to your business. 
 
1) MobileFraud
Speaker: Rich Stuppy, Chief Operations Officer, Kount
 
Nothing is changing the face of ecommerce faster than the mobile channel. Customer expectations, new apps, mobile wallets and continued regulations are just a few of the issues outlined during this presentation. We’ll also review highlights of the 2015 Mobile Payments & Fraud Survey. *Full report available on request.
 
2) Cross Border – Out of the country, Out of control
Speaker: Steve Casco, Chief Executive Officer, CardNotPresent.com
 
Steve Casco explores the opportunities and challenges inherent in selling globally. Hear about the rise of Asia and an opportunity gap your business could exploit, how mobile is driving cross-border sales and how finding the right partners can grease the rails of international expansion.
 
3) Staying Out of Chargeback Hell
Speaker: Don Bush, Vice President of Marketing, Kount
 
Chargebacks are the number one indicator of a fraud problem, but the way chargebacks are reported to merchants makes it difficult to determine how and why they occurred. We’ll review common symptoms of fraud that cause chargebacks and best practices to avoid them in the future.
 
4) CaseStudy: Fraud in the Omni-Channel
Speaker: Greg Coles, Director of E-Commerce Operations, The Source Electronics
 
For almost 23 years, Greg has been a part of The Source, working with fraud detection for the last 8 years and in his current role for the last 4 years. Greg has seen his company adapt and innovate to the changing environments, including the migration to E-Commerce and Mobile purchasing. His breadth of knowledge and experience is beyond reproach and will provide a unique insight into the fraud landscape for a successful heavily targeted Omni-Channel retail business.
 
Given the usefulness of the topics and the fact that it’s free, available spaces will fill up quickly. Register now and reserve your space at Fraud 360™ in Toronto.

By Suthamie Poologasingham

It’s old news that the digital channel plays a critical role in the path to purchase―from online research to social media reviews to consumer product ratings, shoppers are researching before they ever set foot in store. Physical locations are no longer the “first” nor even the “last mile” in the path to purchase thanks to online and omni-channel shopping.

Save the retail behemoths, like Walmart and Amazon, most retailers who carry multiple brands and products are unable to keep up with the information needs of consumers. In many cases, manufacturers and brands are becoming the critical source of information, helping to drive sales and educate consumers.

Despite the need for brands and retailers to play well together, there still remains the fear of retail cannibalization.

Retail cannibalization: Similar to channel cannibalization, many brands and manufacturers shied away from creating a digital presence for fear of diverting their partners’ revenue stream.

Example: Levi Strauss and Maytag in the early 2000s had their own direct-to-consumer site but complaints from dealer networks and stores forced them to close it down. Similarly in the food industry, producers and growers were dependant on the retailer to promote their product in-store and influence the buying decision.

However as more retailers produce private labels, from Costco’s “Kirkland” to Macy’s multitude of private brands (e.g., Charter Club, Ideology, etc.), other brands must determine how to stand out and bring value to their retailers, customers, and their own bottom line.

Showrooming is driven by high smartphone penetration rates of 73% in Canada and upgrades to the “net” to be mobile accessible. Therefore having an informational digital presence is essential for manufacturers and brands for consumers who are looking up information on their product while in a store.

The decision to have an e-commerce presence is also beneficial to all parties if structured in a way so as not to undermine distributor/retailer sales of the same brand/product. In some cases, a credit to the distributor for a percentage of the sales (based on where the sale is delivered) is appropriate and helps boost overall sales. For brands and manufacturers the online channel has provided an integral opportunity to connect with consumers and support retailers’ increasing sales and satisfaction overall.

Recall that the buying decision is not always made at the “last mile,” in today’s information era. What are you doing to ensure your product or brand is top-of-mind when consumer’s do their research?

Written by: Suthamie Poologasingham, Sr. Advisor of Digital & Omni-Channel, and Director of Research at J.C. Williams Group. You can also read their informative blog, Retaileye, here: retaileye.wordpress.com. 

Polarization continues in the Canadian retail market, as an increasing number of consumers continue to gravitate towards either the very high-end or low-end. As a result, retailers like Harry Rosen, Holt Renfrew, Dollarama and Forever 21 continue to experience growth, while many middle-market retailers struggle. Antony Karabus, CEO of retail consultancy firm HRC Advisory, recently wrote about this topic in the Journal of Corporate Renewal.  
 
In the article, Mr. Karabus noted that a variety of factors are challenging mid-priced retailers, including increasing costs of doing business, as well as the declining brand loyalty among younger consumers and millenials. Furthermore, online retail from both pure-players and brick-and-mortar e-commerce channels are increasingly gaining market share. Mr. Karabus noted that middle-market retailers in premium malls may see some protection from these trends due to increased traffic and spending in those malls, but those in less-than-prime malls are facing consumer traffic declines. Malls such as Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Chinook Centre, Toronto Eaton Centre, Oakridge Centre, Pacific Centre, Southgate Centre, West Edmonton Mall and a number of others continue to increase sales performance for their tenants.
 
This polarization has been a contributor to the closure of literally hundreds of mid-priced stores, including Mexx, Smart Set, Jacob, Petcetera, Esprit and Target Canada. Some of those mid-market retailers still in operation continue to close locations, as they fine-tune their real estate strategy to align more closely to their target customer. Mr. Karabus said that Canada may have too much retail space per capita housing mid-market brands, which puts additional pressure on mid-priced retailers. Teen/youth brands are increasingly seeing pressure, though a few of the brands are starting to post improved results.

Mr. Karabus said that in order to survive, middle-market retailers need to enhance their value proposition in order to differentiate them from value-priced retailers, creating an experience which keeps customers coming back. Keeping overhead costs low will be key, while investing strategically towards product, stores, digital, and other growth initiatives. Customer service also allows mid-market players to potentially compete with the exceptional service often offered at higher-end retailers. 
 
Another recent characteristic in the mid-market retail sector, according to Mr. Karabus, has been CEO turnover. Leadership change often spearheads new retail strategy or in the case of Target Canada, led to store closures. 
 
In order for mid-priced retailers to survive and thrive in this environment, Mr. Karabus identified the following five key mechanisms for success:
 
1.    Develop a compelling, differentiated customer value proposition and business model that is distinct from price and engages the customer most effectively.
2.    Create a merchandising, assortment, and inventory deployment strategy that aligns with the differentiated customer value proposition.
3.    Deploy their capital to the most important initiatives that will position them for the necessary transformation in the new retail environment.
4.    Manage their cost infrastructure and deploy capital cost-effectively while enabling the strategic agenda and meeting customer needs.
5.    Design an analytics capability that produces key insights into the key drivers of profitability and customer engagement.
 
Mr. Karabus noted that some retailers may need to re-evaluate their real estate strategy to increase customer loyalty. This includes evaluating how customers shop both bricks and mortar and e-commerce channels.
 
Finally, Mr. Karabus noted that retail is increasingly looking like ‘survival of the fittest’. Publicized store closures have resulted in great opportunities for stronger retailers to capitalize on the closures to optimize their store fleets at lower occupancy costs. Mr. Karabus expects this shift from weaker to stronger retailers to continue and  even escalate. 

Antony Karabus is CEO of HRC Advisory, a leading retail advisory firm. He has advised retailers on strategic and financial performance issues for over 25 years and has assisted numerous North American retailers to create significant shareholder value during this time. Karabus has advised numerous national retail chains in key sectors, including department store, specialty apparel and hard lines, big box, and grocery. He can be reached at akarabus@hilcoglobal.com.