Reporting on the retail trade: formats from concept shop to outlet mall, how markups and sale calendars are set, resale and secondhand growth, the economics of returns, and what physical stores now do that screens cannot. Written for shoppers who want to understand the machinery behind a price tag.
How retail operates.
Self-checkout cut labor lines and raised losses at the same time: US retail shrink hit $112 billion in 2022, and chains from Target to Dollar General have been restructuring lanes ever since.
Global secondhand apparel hit roughly $197 billion in 2023 and kept climbing — the price logic behind thrift stores, vintage dealers and resale apps, explained.
At Europe's big outlet villages the discount sign is real, but up to a third of the stock was made for the outlet — the trick is telling manufactured-for-discount from genuine end-of-season.
US department store sales have fallen by roughly half since 2000 while e-commerce grew tenfold — what killed the middle, and where the survivors are hiding.