What: A 10 years review of major department stores moves on the US market

Why is it important: Another proof, if this was needed, that the pandemic was actually just an accelerator on the problems experiences by the US market. Another illustration as well that the US market had difficulties which were quite specific, and that the international news coverage about department stores is biased by the weight of the US market in the industry.

Retail Dive reviews all major moves from department stores players in the US over a decade. Reviewing it, it is striking to see to what extent the market was addicted to a network sizing race in order to bury in the numbers reported to shareholders the inability to adapt to major changes, i.e. e-commerce and customer evolving behaviour.

Department Stores’ decade of decline