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Habitat Housewares is an upscale cookware and entertainment shop in Midtown Anchorage and community fixture for 38 years.
Co-owner Lori Atrops told the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce July 22 that throughout the growth of "big box" department store retailers presented constant challenges during the independent shop's existence. She said the explosion of the online shopping medium over the past decade has added another layer of competition.
"The National Retail Federation has said for years that brick and mortar retailers are at a competitive disadvantage against online giants - mega-retailers known as e-tailers," she said at the weekly chamber "Make it Monday" form.
Fellow presenter and Anchorage Economic Development Corp. Vice President John Bittner said nationwide online retail sales have increased roughly 10 percent per year since 2001, and comprised about 10 percent of all retail sales last year. It's expected that online shopping will account for 30 percent of retail sales by 2025, he said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, online, or e-commerce sales totaled approximately $62 billion nationally in the first quarter of 2013.
Atrops described a technology-driven phenomenon known as "show rooming," where a customer learns about product options from sales staff at a store and then instantly checks prices for similar items online.
Local retailers cannot compete with large online sellers such as Amazon.com Inc., which she called a "parasite in commerce," because of the costs associated with pinning a storefront. The situation persists in spite of business having their own useful websites,...