Analysis of the retail market today requires taking a hard look at two very different sides of the same coin.
Analysis of the retail market today requires taking a hard look at two very different sides of the same coin.
There is traditional brick and mortar retail. The kind with store clerks, product displays and signs in the windows and at the ends of the aisle.
Then, there is e-commerce. The kind with computer clicks, email sales and FedEx and UPS delivery people.
E-commerce and brick and mortar retail are very different sides of the same coin. In fact, they are not really friends; a civil war is brewing.
The $281.3 billion e-commerce industry in the U.S. has grown more than 12 percent a year every year since 2010. That growth is expected to increase from 2016 forward with at least another 2 percent of annual growth.
In comparison, traditional brick and mortar retail in total is not projected for much growth at all.
Warehouse clubs and supercenters, such as Wal-Mart and Costco, have been the only growth area for traditional retail with 2 percent annual growth from 2010 to 2015. That’s expected to bump up a little to 2.4 percent annual growth from 2016 to 2020.
That’s been the bright spot for brick and mortar retail. Department stores sales saw a 4.5 percent reduction from 2010 to 2015, which is projected to continue, according to IBISWorld, a leading publisher of business research and intelligence. Another 2.6 percent reduction is expected from 2015 to 2020.
One side of the retail coin is clearly on a winning streak.
What does this mean for the Lehigh Valley?
