Like everything else, this concept is being tested brutally by the Covid-19 pandemic. Rent the Runway, the fashion rental service, has had to rethink its plans as fewer Americans commute to offices or attend fancy events. Joymode, which rented out thousands of products, from electronics to margarita machines, closed. Uber rides — which were suppose... See more

Many of the perceived Covid winners such as e-commerce, videogame and streaming media companies have simply been pulled a few years forward into a future that was inevitable. Their destiny did not change. The future for those businesses simply accelerated whereas the future for category leading “brick and mortar” retailers has changed dramatically ... See more

It took eight years for e-commerce as a share of retail sales in the United States to grow to 12 percent from 5 percent. It took only the 12 weeks between March and June this year to reach 16 percent from 12 percent.