Gap, J. Crew, Hudson’s Bay And The Unrelenting Collapse Of The Middle In Retail

It finally seems that most people have caught up to the fact that reports of retail’s death are greatly exaggerated. There is no retail apocalypse. Software is not eating retail. Brick-and-mortar stores are not going away. Traditional retailers are not all doomed. And Mexico is never paying for that wall. In the United States it’s a virtual certainty that this year will end with physical stores sales not only being up year over year (again) but also, according to eMarketer, contributing more incremental sales growth than e-commerce. Despite all the doom and gloom stories, thousands of new stores will open, many coming from digitally-native brands that one eschewed a physical presence. Quite a few traditional retailers have seen a renaissance of sorts. Moreover brick & mortar stores’ role in driving online shopping is increasingly important and well documented. Read more at Forbes.