, Columnist
Holiday Sales Expose Losers in a Changing Market
Online shopping is booming, vexing the Fed and mall landlords.
So 20th-century.
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Another holiday shopping season has passed, and though the rapid growth of online spending has been a well-told story for a number of years now, it’s worth highlighting the latest developments and what they mean for investors.
Internet sales rose an estimated 15 percent, to 19 percent, from a year earlier, while those at traditional stores fell 10 percent as the number of shopper visits plunged 15 percent. The appeal of online shopping is only getting stronger as people who came of age using computers and smartphones become a bigger factor in consumer spending.