A shift to online purchases contributed to lower sales in physical stores
During recent years, the surge in online shopping contributed to the struggles faced by numerous brick-and-mortar retailers. Online purchases spiked to 15.7% of all retail sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a lot of retailers had to close their stores. The share of online purchases then stabilized around 14.5% in 2021, before picking up again in 2022 and reaching 15.6% in 2023.