Goldman Sachs and the clients who took the bank's 'big short' trade recommendation last month will be pleased to read a research note out of UBS that has received some coverage in the mainstream press on Wednesday. Though traders who are short Amazon or long CMBX might want to avert their eyes.
According to the story about the note published by the Washington Post, UBS now expects some 75,000 stores that sell clothing, electronics and furniture to close by 2026, when online shopping is expected to make up 25% of retail sales,according to UBS. Right now, roughly 16% overall sales are made online.
The closures will be broad-based, but UBS expects some 21,000 apparel stores, 8,000 home furnishing stores and 10,000 consumer electronics stores - among thousands of others - to close.
To be sure, the US retail sector has already been hard hit by the Amazon-inspired "retail apocalypse" (though other factors, like the overbuilding of retail space during the pre-crisis years, have also contributed to the wave of bankruptcies). Since 2016, 35 major retail chains, and countless smaller ones, have filed for Chapter 11. And a host of names not listed here have filed since the beginning of the year, including Diesel USA, Charlotte Russe and Shopko (meanwhile, Payless and Gymboree have filed for a second time).
No comments:
Post a Comment