Guest Post: NRF 2012 Retailers Move Forward in 2012
February 1, 2012 | 1 Comments | NRF Retail's BIG Show
By Yu-Ting Huang, Director, Global Product Marketing at Voltage
Regardless of whether the year 2012 will end the way the Mayans had predicted, retailers are moving forward with initiatives that can continue to grow their business. The general mood of the retailers at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York earlier this month was a few rungs above cautious optimism. In addition to investing in ways to expand sales channels and understanding customer needs to increase revenues, corporations were also looking to build social stewardship into their businesses.
The buzz on the EXPO show floor was clearly about new devices that allow acceptance of mobile sales and payments, and the technologies that facilitate the management of store displays, supplies and analytics.
While the shiny new toys were eye-catching and inspiring, other aspects that are just as crucial to the success of a retail business were conspicuously missing from the conversation. I found it interesting that the security of customer data such as personal information, purchase history and preferences, and even payment data are not yet top of mind. There were a handful of vendors showing secure point-of-sale devices at the EXPO, but the coverage from the session presentations on this topic was thin.
Perhaps data security has been relegated to the “basic requirement of doing business” category and has become a risk level non-topic. According to Visa, over 90% of both Level 1 and Level 2 merchants are PCI-DSS compliant. However, we continue to hear reports of data breaches, including the recent one from Zappos, which, incidentally, was a finalist for the ARIL Customer Service Award at the conference. (The breach notification went out to customers the day before the award luncheon.)
This goes to show that hackers never rest, and, therefore, as an industry we shouldn’t either. As we continue to invest in growing our businesses, it’s always good practice to take a moment to assess the risk level, integrity and security of what you have in place first. Making security a forefront topic in your business’ management can mean staying a step ahead of hackers– and this is where you should always strive to be.
For more information about Voltage Security visit www.voltage.com or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/voltagesecurity.