There’s more than Amazon behind the meltdown of retail in the United States over the last two years, and if you’re doing retail in Egypt, you need to read this: Bankruptcies, store closures and liquidations in retail in the U.S. are partly due to online shopping, writes The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson. “There have been nine retail bankruptcies in 2017,” according to Thompson. “J.C. Penney, RadioShack, Macy’s, and Sears have each announced more than 100 store closures,” and Ralph Lauren will close its flagship Polo store on Fifth Avenue. Online shopping is getting more popular, not just for books and music: Clothing is now the largest e-commerce category. Shopping has gone mobile, too. “Since 2010, mobile commerce has grown from 2 percent of digital spending to 20 percent.”

Retail is also collapsing in the US because Americans built too many malls. The number of malls grew over twice as fast as the population growth in 1970-2015. “So it’s no surprise that the Great Recession provided such a devastating blow: Mall visits declined 50 percent between 2010 and 2013.” They’re still falling. The third reason is a change in lifestyle, as people are going to restaurants and traveling rather than shopping.