Strategy

Some of the details are vague, but businesses and individuals selling items via Amazon.com experienced a generally successful holiday season.

According to figures released by Amazon, more than 23 million items were ordered worldwide from sellers on Amazon on Cyber Monday, a more than 40% increase year-over-year. Use of the Amazon Sponsored Products targeted advertising service by sellers grew more than 100%year-over-year worldwide. Clicks on Sponsored Products in the U.S. grew by more than 200% from the previous holiday season.

Janna Potts has been named chief stores officer at Target, filling a position occupied for the past five years by Tina Tyler.

Target elevated Potts to the role of executive VP and chief stores officer, reporting to COO John Mulligan, after she previously served as senior VP of human resources focused on stores and distribution. Potts is a Target veteran who joined the company’s former Mervyn’s division in 1989. During her 27 year career she held leadership roles in stores, operations and human resources, according to the company.

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group announced that it has acquired CBRE Memphis, a commercial real estate services firm that has served as CBRE’s affiliate in Memphis since 1996.

CBRE Memphis services include leasing, property sales, property management, project management and consulting. The firm has a staff of more than 100 and leases and/or manages approximately 14 million sq. ft. of property in the Memphis metro area, as well as in Jackson, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

New York -- Urban Edge Properties announced the acquisition of Pan Bay Center, located in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York, for $27 million. The property includes almost the entire block on the west side of Cross Bay Boulevard between 156th Avenue and 157th Avenue.

The 50,000 sq. ft. property is currently 85% leased with local retail tenants on the ground floor and medical office tenants on the second floor. The property includes 97 parking spaces.

Photo: ColorTek - Studio C, St. Louis

Consumer confidence rose in December amid lower gas prices and a stronger job market.

The index of consumer confidence rose to 96.5 in December from a revised 92.6 in November, the Conference Board said Tuesday. (The November reading originally was put at 90.4, the lowest level in more than a year.) Economists expected a rise to 93.6, according to Bloomberg.

How will retailers fare in 2016? Very well, according to experienced market watchers.

“We expect core retail sales to grow 5.3% in 2016,” says Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics for Moody’s Analytics, a research firm based in West Chester, Pennsylvania. (Core retail sales exclude volatile revenues from auto sales and gas stations.)

That is notably faster than the 4.2% rate anticipated when 2015 sales are finally tallied. The 2015 experience was, again, slightly better than that the 3.9% growth of 2014.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- The Sembler Company’s latest listing is nearly 3,250 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail space in The Salvador, new luxury condominiums, located in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The 74-unit, green-certified condo tower is located just 300 ft. from the University of South Florida, and walking distance from The Dali Museum, The Mahaffey Theater and the Central Avenue arts/entertainment district among other attractions.