Executive Summary

Goldman Sachs held its 25th Annual Global Retail Conference in New York City this week. Listed below are the key takeaways from the webcast presentations.

• All of a sudden, opening stores is not a bad thing.
• US retailers are initially entering China markets via online platforms.
• Lowe’s is to open direct fulfillment center for online orders.
• The 2010s could be the “lost decade of retail”due to the misallocation of capital.
• There is still a lot of low-hanging fruit to be picked by retailers to improve efficiency and service quality.