Strategy

Photo: Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Oklahoma City -- GBT Realty Corp. announced the acquisition of 30 acres in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The site was purchased in January for $2.95 million. The company broke ground on development of the first phase of the $50 million The Market at Czech Hall, a 450,000-sq. ft. regional neighborhood center last week.

Phase one includes the construction of 180,000-sq. ft. of retail, along with seven outparcels. The first tenant expected to open fall 2016.

The list of social media networks offering or planning to offer retail functionality reportedly just got longer. According to Re/Code, Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and a board member of the Snapchat social network, publicly stated that Snapchat intends to offer e-commerce. The announcement came during a presentation Coles made at the Re/Code Code/Media conference in Dana Point, California, on Feb. 17. [Re/Code]

Increased expenses and shrinking margins hurt Nordstrom profitability in the fourth quarter, but the leading department store and off-price retailer delivered on the e-commerce front.

Nordstrom said sales for the fourth quarter increased 5.2% to $4.1 billion and same store sales increased 1%. The company’s full price stores and Nordstrom.com grew sales 0.7% and same stores sales increased 0.2%. However, the growth was largely driven by Nordstrom.com sales which increased 11% and offset a 3.2% decline at physical stores.

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores has named a new leader for its loyalty and customer relationship management programs.

Steve Miller joins Jo-Ann Fabrics from McKinsey & Company, where he served global clients as an engagement manager within the premier consulting firm’s marketing and sales practice. His work as a project manager afforded him the opportunity to gain experience across all functional areas in leading retail and consumer organizations, which includes building CRM and loyalty programs for Fortune 500 companies.

The VF Corp. is adding some heavy duty retail expertise to its board of directors.

Market uncertainty around the world is taking a toll on retail CFOs confidence in the future.

That’s according to a new BDO U.S.A. survey in which retail CFOs predict a 3.4% increase in total sales for 2016. It’s the second consecutive year that the total store sales projection has dipped since the spike to 5.1% in 2014.

In addition, a notable decline in the number of CFOs expecting consumer confidence to increase this year was also revealed, which dropped nearly 50% year over year.

A modest increase in fourth quarter same store sales at Walmart’s U.S. stores marked a sixth consecutive period of growth and helped the company exceed analysts’ profit targets, but a reduced 2016 sales outlook caught some investors by surprise.