Retail Sales Trends 2017-Present
Covid gave a boost to online shopping.
The lead chart excludes things one does not normally buy online like restaurants, gasoline, grocery stores, and autos.
While one can purchase a car online, it is picked up at the dealer and a dealer books the sale.
Of the remaining retail sales, nonstore retailers account for 31% of all retail sales.
Retail Sales Trends 1992-Present
Covid did not change the trend towards online shopping but it did accelerate the trend, and there is no going back.
Amazon Black Friday Week
Amazon Black Friday Week starts Friday, November 20. You can ask “Alexa, what are my deals?” Amazon says tens of thousands of deals are coming.
Every online retailer will have to do the same to compete.
Question of the Day
When does Black Friday Month start?
Department Stores Clobbered
Online sales pressure department stores more and more. Most will struggle to survive.
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Congress is still bickering over a Covid package so a lot more pain is in store for those who don’t have a job or are about to lose one.
The trend towards online shopping will accelerate.
More layoffs in the hospitality and restaurant sector are coming. Mom and pop retail stores won’t make it. And more malls will die.
Mish
The hit has been inevitable but on the flipside this will increase competition. We at Sarwar Pedawi Tech have also seen a dip in one of our online businesses but are positive that things will improve.
Internet shopping was always going to become the big winner for commodity stuff; a lot of foodstuff will now be sold by the internet. My 84-year-old dad now uses Amazon all the time, the last time my parents went shopping for food was nearly 8 months ago — that generation is the shift, the young still go out in the mall, as do the poor (especially since malls are air-conditioned) but the rest — they are moving away from main street!
There will be winners and losers…looks like Target is managing to adapt.
Interesting you took grocery out of the on-line bucket. Increasingly that is also moving on-line. Again Amazon pushing this through its Whole Food line. Other chains may follow.
I think there is a lot of car buying online and having it delivered; I did that last October, bought online from MD and cheerfully delivered to me in VA. Easiest most pleasant car purchase ever!
I have a very difficult time reconciling the fact that online sales are still elevated yet there are still millions unemployed. Is it due to the unemployed still having money left over from the overly generous unemployment benefits this past summer? Is it because folks aren’t paying rents or mortgages? Is it because folks have additional spending money because they are working from home and saving on commuting costs and Starbucks coffee and buying lunch every day? Something does not add up. Why the need for additional stimulus when folks are making Bezos even richer? Maybe I am missing something here.
Two America’s. One is that is working from home – in some cases saving money because not paying to commute so have money to spend. And those that are not working because they were part of the gig economy or work in areas hard hit. In my area some cobbled work together over the summer but concerned with benefits ending, and fewer outdoor jobs, things could get very bad.
“While one can purchase a car online, it is picked up at the dealer and a dealer books the sale. “
Only true for NEW cars. Used cars and Carvana. Delivered to the street in front of your house.
In pre-Covid times we bought a lot from Jeff Bezos because of selection, ease of buying, quick delivery. Amazon Prime delivers to our house at least twice a week. Now, we just buy more. Item price is NOT a factor in our purchase decisions.
At age 72/63, we are avoiding most in-store shopping. Groceries are curbside pickup. Gasoline is…oh, wait…we don’t buy much of that anymore. My wife now buys 99% of her clothes online, but because she is now unemployed, a lot fewer items.
We do patronize tiny, local, independent merchants for meat, seafood, cheese, bread, sausage, wine. They are all practicing good hygiene. Not worried.
We have increased our online buying directly from manufacturers. Most offer free shipping.
Why are small businesses, which are 70% of our economy, being destroyed? Is it Covid (with a death rate similar to a bad flu season), or the fraudulent response that is guided by the Great Reset, and designed to do exactly what’s happening?
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrong-in-the-media/the-interview-on-great-reset/
I’m definitely buying more things online…..so many things are hard to even find these days in a brick and mortar store…..but my buying is more on the eclectic side anyway.
Not a problem with most things…but I will miss being able to try on clothes and shoes when the stores are all gone…not that I buy many of either one at my age…..
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