Today In Retail: Consumer Spending Up in August; Neiman Marcus Data Breach Hits 4.6M Customers

In today’s top retail news, personal spending was up slightly in August despite concerns about the delta variant, while most brands have yet to take advantage of the new ability to partner with college athletes. Also, Neiman Marcus has disclosed that a data hack dating back to May 2020 impacted 4.6 million eCommerce customers, and Latin American eCommerce platform Nuvemshop plans to acquire a logistics company.

Consumer Spending, Income Show Gains In August

U.S. personal consumer expenditures rose 0.8%, or $130.5 billion, in August, coinciding with a 0.2% increase in personal income and a 0.1% rise in disposable personal income, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The increased spending came from $66 billion in goods, including food and beverages, household supplies and recreational items, and $64.6 billion in services, including personal care, clothing services, housing and utilities and healthcare.

Patchwork NIL Rules Leave Many Brands Sitting on Sidelines

College athletes are now able to profit from their name, image or likeness after a rule change by the NCAA, but most brands are hesitant to seek endorsements because of the current legal landscape’s complexity. Peter Schoenthal, CEO of compliance software firm Athliance, told PYMNTS that in the absence of federal legislation, brands must navigate 30 state laws and countless university policies.

Neiman Marcus Data Hack Impacts 4.6M eCommerce Consumers

Neiman Marcus Group has notified around 4.6 million online users that their personal data could have been accessed in a data breach dating back to May 2020. For the millions of customers being notified about the incident, approximately 3.1 million payment and virtual gift cards were affected, more than 85% of which are expired or invalid, the company said in a statement.

Nuvemshop Acquires SMB eCommerce Platform Mandaê

Latin American eCommerce platform Nuvemshop plans to acquire Brazil-based Mandaê, a logistics platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Mandaê’s services include the collection of orders placed on the merchant’s website and delivery of all items in the orders. Nuvemshop’s announcement comes shortly after the company nailed down $500 million in fresh capital in August.