The 2018 Holiday Season has rung the latest death knell for more physical locations in the retail universe. Declining in-store sales among other issues have sent some very big names into downsizing mode.
Gap, JCPenney, and Victoria’s Secret announced more than 300 store closures over the course of 24 hours this week, sending a clear signal that the fallout from the retail apocalypse is far from over. Tesla also announced it would close “many” of its 378 physical dealerships in favor of online-only sales.
Tesla is thinking almost exclusively online sales and why not. The company has been bleeding money for years. And not just yours and mine. Online sales are at the heart of many of these bricks-and-mortar disruptions. That and the inability of old standards to find a path to prosperity in the modern marketplace. Even more modern products like electric cars find themselves struggling.
It happens. It’s supposed to happen. This isn’t the government. The Government digs in and just raises your taxes. Getting less efficient and more expensive. If you complain too much, they call you names and try to pass laws to shut you up.
GAP can’t do that, so it is closing 230 stores and spinning off Old Navy. JC Penney, which has been trying to avoid the mess Sears finds itself in, is closing 27 locations in 2019. And guys, you won’t have to awkwardly feign disinterest at who might be shopping in quite so many of those Victoria Secret Mall stores. As many as 53 will close by the end of the year.
Feel free to point at the blocked off storefronts and say something like, what store used to be there? What am I talking about, you’re not even going to the mall. You don’t need too. You can shop from your smartphone from anywhere or on a PC at home.
Businesses that don’t find a way to capitalize on that will find themselves unable to justify propping up physical locations with lagging sales.
New Age, New Jobs, Better Pay
My advice to the soon to be newly unemployed? Assuming you’re not in New Hampshire. We still have a labor shortage. Get involved in distribution and logistics. From the office side to the physical side, someone has to manage the technology. And there’s plenty of opportunities to pack, move, sort, load, and deliver that stuff if that’s your preference. And many of these jobs pay a lot better than retail ever did.
And the trades are always in demand. You can learn to earn more in two years than a majority of degree graduates being cranked out by colleges that overcharge for an unproductive education in grievance studies – jobs that should be the first to get downsized at every opportunity.
Image: CNN Business
