In February 2025, U.S. retail sales saw a tiny bump of 0.2%, a slight recovery from January's 1.2% drop. Online retailers and health stores were the winners, while cars, furniture, and clothing took a hit. People also spent less at restaurants and bars, likely due to economic jitters from tariffs and federal workforce cuts. Despite the cautious spending, some experts are still hopeful, thanks to low unemployment and steady income growth.
Retailers are diving headfirst into AI and tech to make shopping easier and more fun. Amazon's Rufus, an AI shopping assistant, helps you find what you need among 350 million products. J.Crew's Virtual Closet app lets you get fashion advice from stylists and friends, while Ikea's Preowned marketplace lets you buy and sell secondhand furniture. Companies like Pandora and Fast Retailing are also making waves with sustainable practices and trendy fashion for Gen Z. It's a techy, eco-friendly, and stylish retail world out there!
Portland police have cracked down on a huge retail theft operation where stolen goods were bought from shoplifters and sold online. The investigation, years in the making, led to raids at multiple locations, including a Vancouver warehouse and a Portland storefront called Card Rhino. Thousands of dollars' worth of new, unopened items were recovered, and the store was a known hotspot for selling stolen goods. Charges are expected soon, highlighting the ongoing retail theft issue in Portland.
Retailers are turning to AI to improve demand forecasting and inventory optimization, which is crucial for avoiding overstock or stockouts. AI can analyze unstructured data like social media trends and weather patterns to enhance accuracy. Experts say the real challenge is getting people to understand and utilize AI's full potential. When done right, AI can make supply chains more efficient, benefiting both consumers and companies.
Inventory inefficiencies cost retailers a whopping $1.7 trillion in 2023, but Simbe’s Tally robot is here to save the day. This 5-foot-tall robot scans store shelves, providing real-time data on stock and pricing, so employees can focus on customers instead of squinting at labels. Tally's new platform even lets brands like Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay get real-time insights into their products. With deployments across three continents and new features for wholesale environments, Tally is slashing out-of-stock items by 60% and pricing errors by 90%.
A column dedicated to thought-provoking conversation for Asset Protection professionals.
In this weekly column, I, along with other AP/LP professionals, will write about provocative thoughts and ideas for all of you to ponder. Readers will also have an opportunity to submit comments to be posted throughout the week. We at TalkLP hope this content will help enrich your experience within our profession.
This topic was originally published the first week of Retail Rundown's debut and several have been asking us to re-run this for discussion sake! Have at it.
This Weeks’s Topic:
Who Pays?
David George
Executive Editor
TalkLPnews
david@talklpnews.com
Naturally, many meetings between Solutions Providers and AP/LP executives take place over meals, an occasional round of golf, and sometimes even cocktails. And why not? Breaking bread with business prospects or partners is as common practice that helps build positive relationships.
But who pays?
Several retailers have varying degrees of policies to address this question, but many do not. In the absence of clear policy guidance, what do you do? In preparation for this article, a well-known AP/LP executive answered the following questions:
Question 1: When having lunch with a Solutions Provider you are considering doing business with for the first time, do you allow the Solutions Provider to pay for your meal?
Answer: When having lunch with someone trying to earn my business for the first time, I always ask for separate checks. I always want to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. Also, I would never want the Solutions Provider to presume I owe them my business just because they bought my meal.
Question 2: When having lunches or other meals with a Solutions Provider you already do business with, how often do you allow the Solutions Provider to pay?
Answer: When I was young in my career, I would always allow the Solutions Provider to pay. I used to think it was just a cost of doing business for them to do business with my company. Years later, this topic came up with my former CFO. He explained to me that the best practice to follow is to alternate paying for meals. This was great advice that I took to heart.
Feel free to send comments regarding your policy and best practices.
If you disagree or feel you have a better suggestion, feel free to Change My Mind.
Send all comments to:Comments@TalkLPnews.com If your comment gets listed in the TalkLPnews Retail Rundown for the remainder of the week, it will be listed as “anonymous.”
Autonomous Supply Chains: The secret sauce for retail fulfilment
Think about the last time you ordered something online. You clicked “buy,” and in what felt like no time, the package was at your door. But behind that simple purchase is a massive, complex system working around the clock — warehouses filled with thousands of products, workers sorting and packing orders, and delivery trucks moving goods across cities and countries.
Now, imagine a future where all of this happens almost instantly, with AI, computer vision, robotics, and automation helping warehouse managers making better decisions or even running the show. Welcome to the era of autonomous supply chains that can automatically anticipate and adjust to changes, and, like an autopilot in an airplane, correct parameters and actions, based on changing environment in real time.
MILFORD — The Milford Police Department has identified four suspects in connection with an organized retail theft operation that targeted local stores and is believed to be responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise theft nationwide.
On March 2, Milford police responded to Target at 250 Fortune Blvd. for a report of a high-dollar shoplifting incident.
The following day, detectives discovered the Target incident was part of an organized retail crime that also affected a Lowe’s store in Milford.
Through investigative techniques and technology, Milford detectives tracked the suspects to Flint, Michigan, where local police identified the individuals on March 6.
Who is Marlena Velez? TikToker gets probation for Target shoplifting spree
Marlena Velez is a TikTok star and Instagram influencer with over 462,000 followers on TikTok and 15.2 followers on Instagram. She creates content around lifestyle and wellness and often posts pictures of herself and her family.
The 22-year-old was sentenced to 12 months of probation on March 13. She pleaded no contest to two shoplifting charges. This news casused a buzz on social media. She has viral videos and a massive following.
The charges were made after she was caught shoplifting at the Target store twice. She also went ahead and showed all the items she shoplifted on social media, probably as a shopping haul.
The case of Marlena's theft began on November 30, 2024, when the security from Target in Cape Coral, Florida called the police to report theft.
Tennessee GameStop Manager Saves Man Forced Into Shopping Spree By Kidnappers After Reading Unsent Text
A Memphis kidnapping victim was saved by a GameStop employee who realized something was amiss after being shown an unsent text message on a phone.
The intervention by the GameStop employee ended a nightmare that had begun the previous day. The kidnapping victim told police that Derrickus Brown, 27, and another many known only as "Murder" had tied him up at gunpoint, WREG-3 reported .
Retail’s next step: delivering excellence with artificial intelligence
AI has changed the game. Retail Express offers next generation tools that help retailers buy smarter, keep suppliers happy, and create a customer experience like no other.
Standing out in today’s fast paced retail environment requires more than just meeting customer demands. It requires agility, precision, and the ability to outpace the competition, even when dealing with the constant balancing act of pricing, inventory, promotions, and managing supplier relationships.
Fluctuating Process, Supply Chain Disruptions Are Top Challenge for Fuel Retailers
Fluctuating fuel prices and supply chain disruptions are the biggest fuel challenges for convenience-store retailers, according to a survey by Titan Cloud, a fuel software company based in Franklin, Tennessee, and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
The survey of 134 industry professionals was conducted from June to August. Made up of managers, directors and senior executives, the survey respondents shared perspectives on the future of downstream supply chain.
Monitors and evaluates inventory flow processes for multiple facilities utilizing data customer feedback and store tours to develop strategies toimprove inventory flow aligning with the Market Manager and store leadership to ensure stores implement training for continuous improvement ofinventory levels partnering with supply chain to ensure feedback is provided to associates on store inventory flow and load standardsLeverages data to assist the Market Manager with store assortment changes leading the strategy for the management of deleted inventory and theexecution of facility clearance plans utilizing data to ensure stores avoid excessive inventory actions that impact the integrity of inventory flowmonitoring customer value program execution and assisting the Market Manager with improvement plan implementation within stores of opportunity
Calculator thieves from Texas sentenced under new Minnesota law aimed at cracking down on organized retail theft
Two Texas men who authorities say stole $18,500 in graphing calculators from eight east-metro Target stores last year are among the first to be sentenced under Minnesota’s organized retail theft law, which hit the books in August 2023.
Antonio Griffin Jr. and Zachary Charles Fininen, both of Dallas, were arrested after leaving a Woodbury Target with around $5,500 worth of the pricey mathematical devices on Feb. 21, 2024.
A Target investigator tied them to a Dallas-based group of roving thieves responsible for $250,000 worth of stolen or recovered calculators, the Washington County District Court charges say.
The duo pleaded guilty to the felony charge of organized retail theft while employed by or associated with a retail theft enterprise.
Local police seek more support to break up organized retail theft rings
EUGENE, Ore. — It comes with a more than $100 billion price tag for businesses nationally, but organized retail theft is being thwarted in Lane County thanks to grant funding, according to local police.
Still, those police departments say more is needed to keep those crime rates down.
Over the last year, Springfield Police Department's targeted retail theft missions have brought in 295 shoplifters and another six through joint missions with the Lane County Sheriff's Office, the department said.
"The definition of that organized piece of it, where it wasn't just somebody going into a store and shoplifting. It was theft for gains for criminal activity," SPD Lieutenant Justin Myers said.
From grocery items to clothing, police say most items are fair game for resellers.
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