eCommerce

New York -- G Asset Management, LLC ("GAM"), a private investment management firm, has made a proposal to acquire 51% of Barnes & Noble Inc., valuing the company at $22 per share, or about $1.3 billion. This is a 10% increase on the $20 per share offer G Asset made for 51% of Barnes & Noble in November 2013.

Los Angeles — Hong Kong is by far the world’s most expensive city for global retailers. Even so, prime rents in major global markets such as New York, Paris and London continue to break records, according to new research from global property advisor CBRE Group.

Jewel joined for the debut of the Swiffer Sweep and Trap, which features soft rotating beater blades that are designed to scoop up large particles into a removable dirt bin for quick disposal.

The singer-songwriter led the debut — which took place in New York at the kid-oriented venue Make Meaning — with a live performance of the new "Clean-Up Song." Her acoustic performance is available for free download on the Swiffer Facebook page at Facebook.com/Swiffer.    

Seattle – Holiday markdowns and costs associated with growing its Nordstrom Rack outlet brand and planned entry into Canada had a negative impact on net earnings at Nordstrom Inc. during fourth quarter 2013. Fourth quarter net earnings slipped 6% compared to the same quarter the prior year, to $268 million from $284 million.

Net earnings for the full fiscal year remained almost flat, slightly rising to $735 million from $734 million. Both earnings figures fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Chicago — Forever Yogurt and T’s Code, a women’s clothing boutique, have leased shops in Glen Town Center in Glenview, Ill. Forever Yogurt has taken 1,134 sq. ft., and T’s Code will occupy 1,789 sq. ft. CBRE represented the landlord, Bank of America Commercial Mortgage, in both leases.

Seattle – Amazom.com is reportedly seeking to strike deals with about 10 major retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, Ralph Lauren, and Lord & Taylor, to sell their goods via listings on its e-commerce site.

Overstock.com has been named the 2013 Compuware Best of the Web Gold award winner in the U.S. Retail Product Order Transaction category and the Bronze award winner in the U.S. Retail Last Mile category.

The annual Compuware Best of the Web awards honors the top performing mobile and websites. The awards measure home page and key user transactions based on average response time, availability and consistency of websites across five U.S. industries (i.e. retail, banking, brokerage, insurance and travel) based on analysis throughout 2013.

Walmart shareholders have gotten spoiled by some hefty dividend increases in recent years, but that won’t be the case in 2014 when the annual payout rises a meager 2%.

Walmart announced the dividend increase in conjunction with the release of uncharacteristically disappointing financial results. The company increased the annual payout to $1.92 from $1.88 last year, making the 2% increase the smallest amount of the past decade.