Retailers have offered their customers the opportunity to purchase goods by catalog since the late 19th century, a direct marketing activity focusing on niche markets such as smaller towns and rural areas ( Ross, 1990 Cronon, 1991). In the early 2000s, a new retail paradigm emerged around the massive diffusion of information technologies and e-commerce ( WEF, 2018 WTO, 2018). It is not uncommon that 90% of the inventory carried by a contemporary store is of foreign origin.

The command of logistics played an essential role in the competitiveness of вЂbig boxвЂ™ retail stores, notably since imports from foreign suppliers allowed for declining prices of a wide range of retail goods. The setting of chain stores such as Walmart and Target leaned on offering a wide range of products and services in each store, finding locations expanding customer access, and highly efficient procurement and distribution strategies ( Lecavalier, 2016).

The real estate footprint of retail increased substantially during the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in North America, where anchoring megastores to shopping mall development projects became the norm.Д®conomies of scale, new locations, and changes in sourcing and distribution strategies drive disruptions in the retail sector. This evolution is well documented ( Holmes, 2011) and eventually led to the setting of extensive megastore networks where (suburban) locational advantages were supported by efficient freight distribution capabilities. From the 1960s, suburbanization and increasing mobility allowed for economies of scale to take shape as larger stores overtook smaller rivals and established new distribution structures based on mass retailing. The geography of retail was conventionally influenced by demographic factors such as density, lifestyle, and income, with retail activities seeking locations maximizing their customer base and sales (Dawson Dawson, 2013). 1.вЂѓIntroduction: The digitalization of retail

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