While the world is moving towards e-commerce, we are also seeing that the slow death of the retail business is taking place at the same time. In the earlier times, we had seen that people wanted to see how their products are before buying which is why the retail business was thriving. For this reason, we also had department stores from different brands in every mall and even retail outlets were set up for this reason.
But now that the trend of buying from department stores has gone out of fashion, we are seeing that the stores are reporting lower sales even in the peak holiday season which falls in November and December.
As far as the latest report from PYMNTS.com is concerned, the department stores in the US saw a drop in sales even during the holiday season of 2019 which they claim is due to the e-commerce business. This report also says that mall-based chains and department stores have suffered despite the robust consumer spending.
The companies which are reporting lower sales in the holiday season are L Brands, JCPenney, and Kohl’s. But it is also observed that not everyone is reporting a drop in sales in their department stores as people are moving towards off-priced retailers such as TJX and others.
Also, department stores such as Target and Walmart have reported increase in sales which is a testimony of the fact that their work in the in-store pickup and online ordering services has paid off in bringing people to the stores.
Having said that, this does post a gloomy image of what is to come for the retail business as the e-commerce industry grows even more in the coming decade. There might be a time when there would be only one department store in the whole area which would serve their customers instead of the multiple ones we see currently.