Is retail really vulnerable to online competition?

So, it\'s no secret that Toys R\'s Us died a few months ago and a few other American retail giants who are known for occupying those large suites at the mall where forced to downsize on an national scale. But the only who appears to be thriving is Amazon, which is an online shopping service.

I guess that it\'s kind of inevitable that somebody has to go in the ruthless world of capitalism, but I\'m kind of curious as to how long the trend will continue before unemployment-induced poverty kicks in.

I literally just saw an article about that, stating basically that standard retailers (their example is Walgreens) literally cannot compete with online-focused retailers like Amazon because you can access Amazon from anywhere ... you can't do that with Walgreens. The easier it gets to do things like order your prescription refills online (for free home delivery, too!), the less reason we have to go visit brick-and-mortar stores. And customers today have far less brand loyalty than customers 30 years ago, but plenty of retail corporations haven't kept up with that trend, and are focused on "owning" their customers.

Speaking from an Australian perspective, what a lot of our retailers are doing is shifting to the "click-to-collect" model. You can shop online, just like with Amazon or any other purely online retailer, but instead of waiting for your goods to be sent from a central warehouse, you nominate one of their bricks and mortar stores (subject to stock availability) which you go to after receiving a message that your purchase is ready. (How long they hold it varies from retailer to retailer).

All the convenience of online shopping but none of the waiting around for shipping. At least if you live within range of a store. It seems to be fairly effective for Australian retailers.

Speaking more generally I would say that some types of stores are going to be a bit more resilient than others. Clothing stores if only because it's easier if you can try the clothes on in store. Same with footwear (I have an unusual foot with a very broad fitting and often had to search for something wide enough).

Just like streaming is rapidly overtaking cable television and news websites for printed newspapers, in a couple of decades, there will be very little competition for retail shopping to offer against online purchases. That's why so many malls have been closing down.