Mr. Stephens is a retail industry futurist and the founder of Retail Prophet. 5 FEBRUARY, 2015
Retail is facing a monumental problem that no one seems to want to talk about. It’s that the entire economic model of revenue and profitability for retailers and the suppliers they do business with is collapsing under its own weight and soon will no longer function.
Part of the problem stems from the continued pervasiveness of online retail. Global e-commerce increased by 19 percent in 2013 alone, a figure that was likely equalled or bettered in 2014. With those sorts of multiples, it’s entirely likely that upwards of 30 percent or more of the total retail economy will be transacted online by 2025.
Continue reading The Future of Retail is the End of Wholesale