In a new study conducted over the course of a year, Deloitte set out to find out what’s really going on in the retail industry. While we’ve all heard of the dreaded “retail apocalypse”, but Deloitte has found that it’s not an apocalypse but rather a renaissance. And we agree.
The retail industry employees 15 million workers in the US and this new study examined the large-scale changes that are happening in the economy and how this has directly lead to this retail renaissance. At the high and low ends of the industry, retail is still thriving. It’s in the middle that has faltered with closing after closing and dwindling sales. According to the study, most Americans saw their discretionary funds either fail to grow or even shrink. “The bottom 40% actually had less discretionary money to spend in 2016 than in 2007. The rich, on the other hand, saw their net worth and discretionary money grow.”
In the past year, the trends have only grown more pronounced. Sales at mid-priced retailers declined 2% while at premium and low-priced retailers, they grew 8% and 7%, respectively.
Via Quartz
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