In America they call it with a very effective definition, The Retail Apocalypse, and is disrupting traditional distribution around the world, without exception. The dismissal communicated the other day in Paris by the Carrefour summit of as many as 1.500 employees in France is only the latest indicator, after the first cut which had recently eliminated 4.800 jobs in France, Argentina and Belgium, of this disaster which seems to be just starting out. Between now and 2022, 400 m2018 of surfaces in Carrefour hypermarkets will have to be eliminated. The dismissal just announced is part of the measures allowed by the new French labor law rules introduced in XNUMX.
The group immediately started meetings with the unions, counting on reaching a particular agreement envisaged for collective redundancies, defined as the collective conventional break agreement (RCC) even in the absence of economic reasons. But it will be very tough… Auchan, another symbol of gigantic shopping places has been in crisis for some time – with the exclusion of China – and on March 13 announced a drop in 2018 turnover of 3,2 percent with a loss of 1 billion euros. At the origin of these and other heavy financial situations, the overwhelming advance of e-commerce often casually practiced with constant lower costs, bargain prices and also with products that are not always of high quality.
WINNING EXAMPLES APPLE STORE AND EATALY
Furthermore, the formula of mega spaces is now devoid of attraction: on the contrary, what is conquering young and old consumers is the store where the consumer feels emotion, enveloped in an atmosphere of great charm; the Apple stores or the festive ones of the Italian Eataly of the visionary Oscar Farinetti are an example. This is why companies' showrooms are so popular in other sectors such as furniture or clothing, because those who design, manufacture and know how to surround them with emotions directly offer the products...
The numbers of Retail Apocalypse however, they are terrible: according to Euler Hermes, the bankruptcies of companies with turnovers exceeding 50 million euros – almost all of them in the retail sector – have reached a value (destroyed) of over 62 billion euros in the world alone in the first months of 2018. On average in the USA, about 7 stores close a year, mostly clothing and electronics, with a peak of 8 in 2017. In the games and toys sector, historical names of world fame such as Toys in the USA and Maplin in England went bankrupt; in France an illustrious victim, the Grand Récré, has highlighted a worldwide figure: in this sector Amazon has reached a monster market share of over 30%.
THE DISASTER WITH BREXIT
Many e-commerce products come from China, where the global consumer crisis is very worrying, since entire districts of many prefectures are literally overflowing with plastic junk that even the off and online chains of bargain prices are gradually starting to reject. And that China is pouring on African countries causing the defeat of thousands and thousands of small traditional local operators: another face of the Retail Apocalypse. If Amazon maintains its current pace of growth, with Alibaba and others catching up, what will happen to the remaining traditional retail?
In 2018, the social networks that feed e-commerce orders mainly through smartphones increased by over 100 million users. And worse off, according to the great experts in the sector, will be England which, already with the uncertainties of Brexit, has seen a ruinous acceleration in the closures of even illustrious chains and shops. And precisely because of the choice to stay on its own, it will face a further deterioration in the competitiveness of traditional points of sale forced to pay more and more dearly for imported products, which are the majority of those on the shelves.
