Target, Inc.

New York – There were increases in total time to live agent, a metric that measures how long it takes o reach a human customer service representative, including time spent navigating interactive voice response systems (IVRs), during the initial aftermath of the December 2013 Target data breach.

While the vulnerabilities of Target's data systems were exposed during a recent data breach the company’s data centers were being hailed as a model of energy efficiency by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program.

The phrase “massive data breach” is the last thing any retailer wants to see their name associated with, but when bad things happen to good retailers Target's response to the situation is a blueprint for other retailers.

While we wait for all of the official numbers to come in from the 2013 holiday shopping season — a topic I’ll address in a future column — I thought this might be a good time to expand on one of the points I made about retail downsizing in my 2014 forecast piece.

Target “expects more and pays less” for data centers

From online social sharing to location-based targeting to new payment technologies, the retail experience is being upended and disrupted in ways big and small. Ten companies are leading the charge.

Oak Brook, Ill. — Inland Real Estate Income Trust has acquired the 159,258-sq.-ft. Wedgewood Commons Shopping Center in Olive Branch, Miss., a southeastern suburb of Memphis, Tenn. The purchase price was $33.9 million.

The property consists of four buildings and an existing structure suitable for the development of an additional 10,838 sq. ft. of leasable space, which would increase the center’s retail space to just over 170,000 sq. ft.

New York — Target Corp. said a “small percentage” of its gift cards were not properly activated and, as a result, are not working properly when customers try to redeem them.

“We are aware that some Target gift cards were not fully activated and apologize for the inconvenience,” Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in an e-mail, Reuters reported.