State of US Retail: 2017

Retail. Not since the decline of manufacturing began in the 80s has an industry with so many workers faced such a profound shift. The digital transformation has shaken retail to its roots, similar to what the Internet did to publishing in the late 90s. Just consider some updated statistics from three dimensions: jobs, real estate, and e-commerce (and try to tell me that every retailer does NOT now compete with Amazon):

Jobs

• This year, more than 8,000 retail stores will close.
• Retailing employs 15.9m people, accounting for 1 in 9 American jobs. The workforce has expanded by about 1m since 2012, but since January 50,000 jobs have been shed, with more to come. 
• Retailing accounts for at least 1 in 10 jobs in every American state. 
• Across the world, 192m retailing jobs are threatened by automation. 
• Retail jobs surpassed those in manufacturing 15 years ago and now exceed them by 28%.
• US retail wages average $13 an hour.
• Just 20% of retail workers have a college degree.
• Retail jobs are on target to shrink by 12%, or 1.5m jobs, by 2022.
• At its current pace, by July 2018 retailing will have shed three times as many jobs as Amazon is due to create.

Real Estate

• Retail accounts for 31% of all commercial property (the equivalent of more than 150,000 football fields).
• The total amount of capital, both debt and equity, supporting American retail (excluding Amazon) now exceeds $2.5tn.
• Malls account for 8% of America's retail space.
• American retailers (excluding Amazon) have a market value of about $1.6trn.

E-commerce

• The share of retail shopping done online jumped from 5.1% in 2011 to 8.3% last year.
• E-commerce and warehouse jobs are now equivalent to 10.1% of retail employment, up from 8% a decade ago. 
• Two-thirds of books, music and films are now purchased online, as well as over two-fifths of office supplies and toys. 
• Many Amazon Prime members receive goods within two hours, at no extra cost. 
• Amazon accounts for over half of all new online spending in America.
• 78% of e-commerce job descriptions want applicants with a college degree. Even warehouse positions demand more training: 53% of jobs in automated warehouses also require a degree.

Some stats from: www.economist.com/topics/retailing