2 Rules for Investing in the Retail Apocalypse

There's no question that the retail industry is in upheaval. Retailer bankruptcies are soaring, store closings are becoming commonplace, and profits at a wide variety of retail chains are in decline. Retailers are on pace to close more stores this year than in 2008. Let that sink in.

The rise of e-commerce, particularly the aggressive expansion of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), is often blamed for this turmoil. E-commerce sales have been consistently growing at a double-digit pace, eating up an increasing percentage of total retail sales. E-commerce is certainly a threat to traditional retailers, but it's not the core problem. Case in point: total adjusted retail sales excluding e-commerce have increased on a year-over-year basis every single quarter since 2010.

Chart by author. Data source: United States Census Bureau.

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Source: Fool.com