Through a year of uncertainty, our retail technology clients cut through the noise, serving as thought leaders and offering solutions across the media landscape.

---

Welcome to the second edition of Matter’s Retail Therapy, where our team of retail technology pros share industry trends and predictions straight from those who know best — our clients. Read our first post to see this year’s holiday shopping predictions.

Well, it’s December. We’ve made it through the summer, the back-to-school shopping season and the Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Cyber Monday trifecta. As the holiday shopping season continues to unfold, the retail industry is bracing for more of what we’ve come to expect in 2020: uncertainty.

As the retail sector takes stock of the holiday shopping season and assesses lessons from 2020, let’s look back at some of the thought leadership our retail technology clients have shared with the world to help guide companies through this year’s unpredictability: 

---

Businesses must learn to live with supply chain disruptions.

Wall Street Journal: Grocers Stopped Stockpiling Food. Then Came Coronavirus.

Retail sales of paper towels, black beans and tuna rose roughly 150% in the week ended March 14 vs the year-earlier week, according to market-research firm Nielsen. About 90% of shoppers said they experienced outages of some items, and a third said most items were out of stock, in a survey of 1,000 people by supply-chain consultancy Blue Yonder. ­

WWD: Coronavirus Impacts Supply Chain, Crucial Contingency Plans Needed

Ronen Lazar, cofounder and CEO at Inturn, an off-price inventory software company, said the “disruption that coronavirus is creating within the supply chain cannot be understated. As inventory is delayed by weeks or months, brands should prepare for an onslaught of potentially out of season inventory. The brands equipped to efficiently optimize their inventory in real time are the ones that will be best positioned to weather the storm.”

---

The rise of E-commerce and proliferation of COVID-19 are transforming retail.

Associated Press: Black Friday sees record online as US shoppers stay home

Even with that drop, Black Friday will still likely end up as one of the biggest in-person shopping days in the U.S. this year, [Sensormatic Solution’s Brian] Field said. He thinks many people will still shop for the holidays in person, but will choose mid-week days when crowds are smaller. Heavier in-store discounts and concerns about lengthy shipping times could also draw shoppers closer to Christmas.

Bloomberg: Delivery Cost Is Top Last-Mile Issue in Retail Logistics

It’s Amazon’s world and retailers are all just trying to live in it. That’s one potential takeaway from Blue Yonder’s online survey of 300 senior executives charged with logistics and fulfillment at U.S.-based firms. With retailers’ e-commerce revenue as a share of total sales increasing by 33% since before Covid-19 lockdowns, according to the poll, fulfillment challenges, including with the supply chain, abound. One very large issue: the rising cost of delivery in the final mile of the chain.

---

Retailers are utilizing innovative technology to adapt to uncertainty. 

Forbes: The New Science Of Counting Shoppers: The Tech Tracking Customers In The Age Of Coronavirus

Sensormatic is leveraging the traffic counting cameras and sensors it already had in place in its clients’ stores to create real time occupancy and social distancing density reports for those retailers. Stores that have to restrict traffic to 25% or 50% of capacity get alerts when the number of shoppers approaches those thresholds. One solution Sensormatic has created, Brown said, is a traffic light system that collects occupancy data and uses traffic signals — red for wait and green for enter — to regulate traffic at a store entrance.

Wall Street Journal: DHL’s Warehouse Management Business Makes It Easier to Onboard Robots

DHL Supply Chain and Blue Yonder Inc. over the past year have been collaborating on Robotics Hub, a software platform designed to more quickly integrate robotics systems into warehouse operations. It is one of several efforts in the industry to improve the usefulness of robots in warehouses, where they are increasingly common.

SecurityInfoWatch.com: Facial Recognition Goes Beyond Simple Loss Prevention

Integrating facial recognition technology with access control has uses that go beyond loss prevention — by training the software to recognize employees, suppliers, contractors and others who might require access to the premises, it is possible to enable touchless access to stores. For instance, in the past, someone making a delivery might be granted temporary access with a keycard or key fob, but at a time when a global pandemic is still raging, touchless entry is much safer for all parties. (Authored by Axis Communications)

---

It’s time to rethink in-store shopping and SKUs. 

Diginomica: The e-commerce push isn’t enough – how should retailers apply data in the pandemic economy?

Zebra says that effective retail analytics can identify patterns around inventory accuracy – and the impact of in-store pickup on SKUs that could go out of stock. Analytics can help solve per-store labor allocation, including curbside pickup demand surges. 

One Door Blog: Merchandising Strategies for The New Normal

Retailers will need to recession-proof assortments. Much like after the 2008 recession, people are making choices driven by their budget. Although shoppers are making fewer trips to the store, we’ve seen larger basket sizes during the pandemic to load their pantries. This trend is likely to continue. Importantly, retailers are making decisions on where to hold assortments. With more subscription and delivery models available, which inventory needs to be housed in distribution centers, and which in-store? 

---

It all comes down to consumer confidence.

New York Post: Clothing stores changing fitting rooms for coronavirus re-openings

“I’ve heard retailers try to discourage shoppers from picking up items if they are not buying it,” noted retail consultant Hedgie Bartol of Axis Communications. “Can you imagine if someone wanted to try on a bathing suit at a store that has such a policy.” The problem, retail experts say, is that the government has issued very little guidance about the sale of apparel, which is sowing confusion on how to handle clothing that’s been in fitting rooms.

CNBC: Shoppers across the country are retreating again as coronavirus cases surge

Thirty-seven states, plus Washington, D.C., have trended down over the past two weeks on a year-over-year basis, according to ShopperTrak senior director Brian Field. Thirteen states, meanwhile, have continued to show improvement in traffic, he said. The divide between the two, according to Field, is largely driven by the safety precautions that are being taken in each of those states. Of the 38 states with traffic falling again, only eight of those are requiring masks statewide, Field said. Of the 13 on the rise, 11 require the general public to wear masks, he said.

Total Retail: Turning to Tech: How Data and Devices Can Help Retailers Comply With COVID-19 Safety Measures

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, a retailer’s ability to operate safely depends on the dual effectiveness of its social distancing measures and sanitation protocols. It’s the new reality of 2020, which only intensified with the resurgence of the virus across the U.S. in July. That showcased exactly why retailers must have the right precautionary measures in place to prepare for a potential second or third wave of the virus. Without them, stores will have no choice but to close their doors again this coming fall. (Authored by Zebra Analytics)

---

It’s clear: Retail and supply chain professionals are essential workers. 

One Door Blog: 7 Things to Consider When It’s Time To Reopen Stores

The health and well-being of your employees is your number one priority. During this time of crisis, everyone is dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity about the future. Bringing associates back to work and asking them to put the store back together can put additional stress on an already-stressful situation. Now more than ever is the time to support your store teams. Frequent communication will help managers and associates know they are valued.

Retail Touchpoints: As Retailers Use E-Commerce to Combat COVID-19, Should Off-Price Follow Suit?

In order to help accommodate for the lost thrill of in-store shopping, off-price retailers can leverage prescriptive analytics solutions to personalize their e-Commerce customer journeys. Prescriptive analytics compiles in-depth data on inventory needs, which can be used to prioritize specific products based on consumer demand and pricing transparency. In turn, an off-price retailer can provide a wide array of the exact items consumers are looking for from the most popular brands on the market — all at a discounted price. This can help re-instill that “hitting the jackpot” feeling coveted by customers.  (Authored by INTURN)

There is never a dull moment in the cybersecurity industry. Cybercriminals are nothing if not creative, and staying one step ahead of them requires being innovative, agile and ready for anything. Maybe that’s why our clients in the cybersecurity field seemed more dedicated than ever when faced with the unprecedented challenges 2020 has thrown our way. In the face of a massive migration to remote work, the emergence of new attack vectors and the continued rise of notoriously difficult-to-stop ransomware attacks, they reminded us of one thing: facing down threats is what they do. 

As the year winds to a close, it’s worth looking back on some of 2020’s biggest cybersecurity trends. What were the big stories? What topics had the industry buzzing? Taking stock of where we’ve been this year is a worthwhile exercise, and it can also tell us a thing or two about where we’re going. 

The Shift to Remote Work Presents New Security Challenges

When COVID-19 first reached American shores and states began issuing lockdown orders, the shift to remote work was swift. Gallup polling indicates that more than 50% of U.S. workers were fully remote during the month of April, and while that number fell to 33% by September, the rate of remote work remains considerably higher than pre-pandemic levels. 

This rapid shift to remote work posed significant challenges for IT departments, which were now tasked with enabling employees to securely access company data from wherever they might be. A study conducted by Sectigo indicated that nearly 40% of businesses delayed revenue-generating initiatives in order to prioritize remote work setups, and securing those remote access pathways has been an ongoing project for many.

Critical Infrastructure Remains at Risk

Election security was a major concern in 2020, but the presidential election ultimately went off without a hitch — at least from a cybersecurity perspective. But election infrastructure isn’t the only area where the U.S. has dangerous vulnerabilities. Researchers this year discovered that infrastructure security throughout the country is lacking, with industrial control systems, oil wells, water treatment and distribution systems, and more proving vulnerable to attack. Shoring up America’s infrastructure will continue to be a hot topic moving forward.

Ransomware Is on the Upswing

Not so long ago, most ransomware attacks were “smash and grab” operations, where an attacker would steal or encrypt any data they could get their hands on, then demand payment. Today’s ransomware attackers are more deliberate, pioneering a “Ransomware 2.0” approach that involves conducting reconnaissance within the network to identify the most valuable data before acting. As a result, attackers are getting their hands on higher value data and increasing their average payout. 

Unfortunately, this has led a growing number of attackers to turn to ransomware, and a recent Veritas study highlighted the fact that many businesses’ IT complexity is outpacing their security capabilities, leaving them dangerously vulnerable to such attacks. Stopping these new ransomware attacks requires a shift in thinking, and a focus on in-network detection capabilities rather than perimeter defenses. As ransomware continues to skyrocket, the adoption of new in-network defense technologies is a trend that is likely to continue.

Social Engineering Attacks Are Here to Stay

Social engineering attacks target the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain: the users. Spear phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks fall under this umbrella, and are usually carried out by attackers impersonating a person of authority within a company to fool an employee into turning over valuable data or even directly transmitting money. These attacks circumvent typical perimeter defenses by tricking users into giving them what they need. 

These attacks were already on the rise, and unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic has given cybercriminals a new angle to work with. Widespread remote work has made it harder for employees to verify the authenticity of emails firsthand. Tools capable of verifying the authenticity of an email are on the rise, but human error remains a concern.

Quantum Computing Is Coming

It isn’t here yet, but quantum computing is closer than ever — and that means that traditional encryption algorithms will soon be obsolete. Fortunately, this doesn’t come as a surprise to the security industry, and quantum-safe replacement algorithms are actively in development. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been working hard to identify these new algorithms, and expects to have a selection of standard algorithms by 2022. Although that date is still two years away, IT teams are beginning to put plans in place to migrate over to these new algorithms when it becomes necessary.

As we leave 2020 behind, we consider ourselves fortunate to work with so many great clients in the cybersecurity industry. We also appreciated the opportunity to engage with and learn from some terrific thought leaders, including those featured in our CyberSide Chat video series. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented us all with new obstacles to overcome, but our cybersecurity partners are always looking ahead to anticipate the next set of challenges. We look forward to learning more from them in the new year as we see what 2021 has in store!