Has E-commerce Peaked?
The world is changing slower than it seems
In April 2020, I had a conversation with a friend of mine, a chief of a branch of a major consulting firm in the UK. The world was learning to work from home and shop online those days.
I began one of my phrases with the words ‘when the world gets back to normal…’, and he interrupted me. ‘Normal?? What do you mean? Can’t you see that the world will never be the same again?!?’
He believed we would never get back to the office and forget about traditional shopping. And he was not the only one. When I expressed some careful doubts about such a scenario, many people looked at me condescendingly, thinking I was shortsighted.
A new article in the Economist is titled ‘Has e-commerce peaked?’ It contains a lot of figures that explicitly indicate the e-commerce market is growing slower than ever.
Some players, like Wayfair, have been losing revenue for many quarters in a row. And Peloton, a COVID-era business hero, is struggling to stay afloat.
If some employees are being forced to return to the office, they get back to the shopping malls voluntarily.
Quote: “After spiking in early 2020, the online share of retail spending in America has remained stagnant at around 15%.”
