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What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?
Article

What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?

The Atlantic, 2017

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Background

Recommendation

America’s retail industry is hurting. Yet people tend to point fingers too quickly at Amazon and other e-commerce businesses when hearing about yet another department store bankruptcy or retail store closure in the United States. As economics writer Derek Thompson explains in The Atlantic, “buy now” buttons and shopping apps certainly keep many people out of stores – but so do changing lifestyle priorities among Americans. getAbstract recommends Thompson’s illuminating piece on the demise of American retail stores to industry professionals and commercial real estate developers mulling over what the future of retail may hold. 

Take-Aways

  • The US retail industry has taken a severe hit in the last two years despite a growing economy, low unemployment and rising wages.
  • Online retail companies, which enable consumers to shop conveniently from home, are taking away an ever-increasing market share from physical retail stores.
  • The closure of flagship department stores at US malls keeps shoppers away, hurting smaller retailers that used to benefit from passersby purchases.

About the Author

Derek Thompson is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he writes about economics, labor markets and the media. He is the author of the book Hit Makers.