Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” sums up the discussion of the future of physical stores that  we heard at NRF 2019: Retail’s Big Show this week.
• Bellwether chains Macy’s Inc., Kohl’s Corp. and Target Corp. all tumbled in premarket trading on Jan. 10 after Macy’s cut its annual earnings forecast and Kohl’s reported disappointing seasonal sales growth.
• Retail sales growth in the U.K. was flat year over year in December, while comparable sales declined 0.7 percent, despite retailers slashing prices. Retail traffic declined 2.6 percent during the month.
• Amazon’s expansion in India into areas such as payments, food retail, content, digital voice assistance and customer support has resulted in nearly 1,300 job listings in the country, the highest number of Amazon openings in the Asia-Pacific region.