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Hackers take 5 million payment cards from Saks, Lord & Taylor stores
The wave of large-scale retail data breaches isn't about to subside any time soon. Gemini Advisory has discovered that a JokerStash online crime syndicate, Fin7, is planning to sell over 5 million payment cards stolen from the databases of 83 Saks Fifth Avenue stores (including Off 5th) and the entire network of Lord & Taylor. The crooks are 'only' selling 125,000 of the cards on the Dark Web as of this writing, but the rest are expected to reach the black market in the months ahead. The breaches reportedly started in May 2017, but could be continuing to this day.
Saks Fifth Avenue left customer data exposed to the public
Sometimes, hackers don't have to lift a finger to swipe valuable shopping data -- it can be sitting right out in the open. BuzzFeed News has found that Saks Fifth Avenue was storing info for tens of thousands of customers in plain text on their servers. There was no payment data, thankfully, but the content revealed email addresses, phone numbers, internet addresses and product IDs. If a malicious visitor wanted to commit identity fraud or scam a customer, they had at least some of what they needed.
Google launches VR tour of New York's festive store windows
You can now visit New York's elaborate department store holiday window displays without fighting a billion other tourists. Google's "Window Wonderland" app lets you visit Barney's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's and 15 other stores. The company says it created a new technique to stitch hundreds of high-res photos into "rich, lifelike panoramas." Viewed on a Daydream or other VR headset, "you can even be surrounded by the sounds and sights of the city streets, taking in the storefront view alongside other onlookers," Google says.
More retailers see catalog gold in iPad apps
Online shoppers aren't just looking for tablets to buy, they are using them to do their shopping, too. The New York Times suggests that the majority of tablet owners use the device to shop, and that they prefer the shopping experience of the tablet over that of a smartphone or desktop. Only about 8 percent of online shoppers are tablet owners, according to Forrester Research. As a result, retailers have overlooked this group of customers and focused their efforts on beefing up their websites or releasing smartphone apps instead. The success of the iPad 2 has changed all that, and retailer Anthropologie is one of many stores taking notice of tablet users this year. The company released an iPad app right before the start of this year's busy holiday shopping season and expects it to bring in 20 percent of the store's sales within a year. This would be a significant jump from the 6 percent of sales that currently comes from iPad users browsing Anthropologie's website on the device. Other retailers like Walmart, Saks Firth Avenue and Tea Collection (a children's clothing store) are also embracing the iPad. These retailers are using the tablet device to extend their website and offer an immersive experience. The Tea Collection, for example, is using its iPad app to let customers create outfits, share the outfits on social networks and even watch videos about how the outfits are made. It's the start of a whole new way of shopping for tech savvy customers. [See our past coverage of catalog apps from Google, Catalog Spree & The Find.]
Saks interactive storefront features 64 iPads
The Saks 5th Avenue store in New York and Styelist.com have teamed up to create an interactive storefront display made up of 64 iPad 2s and 18 27" Cinema Displays in order to celebrate Fashion's Night Out. The three-window display was conceived and built by Gin Lane Media and uses a custom built app and a local network to get all the iPads connected to one another. The Loop has some additional pictures of the display. But for those of you who want to do more than look, you can actually take part in what appears on the display. Besides Stylelist imagery, users can submit their own photos that will be shown on the iPads by Tweeting photos with the hashtag #StylelistatSaks.
Google Catalogs iPad app digitizes catalogs, no more coasters
We all know what catalogs are good for: starting fires in the fireplace, light reading in waiting rooms and makeshift placemats. Oddly, Google has decided to take these perfectly useful glossy dead trees away from us with the introduction of Google Catalogs, a free iPad app. Like most shopping apps, users can zoom in, learn more and purchase products through a company's website, but this one adds a slick little twist: collages. Put together a particularly sweet L.L. Bean ensemble and want to share it with Mom? No glue stick or scissors required. Check out the video after the break.
Xperia Pureness available now - includes concierge service, avarice
Great news for the disposable income crowd: The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness is finally available online through Saks Fifth Avenue -- and it can be yours for a mere $990. According to some seriously high-minded PR, the sleek and feature-poor handset "represents an alternative approach to life in the complex, digital age by refining the mobile phone to its most essentials functions." You see, this bad boy "is not simply about a phone; it is about opening a debate about people's relationship with technology in a complex world." Got that? In case you're still not sold, did we mention that the purchase price includes a concierge service? Although we don't know for sure, it's probably not a leap to assume that this "concierge" is a help desk employee somewhere who could feed his village for a month with the grand you dropped on a cell phone. PR after the break.
Microsoft opens PC lounge in Saks Fifth Avenue for holiday season
We all know Microsoft's feeling pretty smug -- and with good reason -- about Windows 7 right now. In an effort to drum up yet more hype for its latest OS, and perhaps to try and gauge customer interest in an East coast Store, Microsoft has decided to open up a cozy "PC lounge" inside Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship New York store -- you know, the one that actually is on Fifth Avenue. As part of the agreement, Windows 7 will be used to drive Saks' window displays, and opportunities will be provided for customers to interact with the new software throughout the building. The lounge itself will be populated by Windows 7 laptops and Microsoft experts, who'll probably answer your questions in the sort of overly peppy, commercial way that makes us wonder why anyone goes to offline shops in the first place.
Sonoro's saucy Swarovski-covered elements stardust radio demands $2,500
"Sonoro" and "absurdly expensive" have always gone hand-in-hand, but even we're a bit taken aback by the sticker on this one. The company's latest example of extravagance is the elements stardust, an "exclusive" AM / FM / MP3 clock radio that's smothered from one end to the other in Swarovski crystals. This thing's not all looks, though -- it's got a LED-illuminated metal ring for quick-touch control of tuning and volume, a full-range speaker, and an integrated bass reflex tube. Too bad you'll have to sashay down to Saks Fifth Avenue with $2,500 and an evil grin in order to take one home.[Via Blast]
