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Retail has lost 50,000 stores since 2019, further solidifying the trend toward market concentration, while online sales have nearly doubled over the past five years

The pandemic accelerated the shift in the retail industry, which had historically been highly fragmented and composed primarily of small businesses. Between 2019 and 2024,  49,970 retail stores closed.  While online shopping had already been growing steadily prior to the pandemic, one consumer behavior that surged in response to COVID-19 was the use of digital commerce. Online sales increased by 95% between 2019 and 2024, and the percentage of companies that use this channel rose from 36% before the pandemic to 45% in 2023. In Spain, 56.7% of the population now shops online, compared to 46.9% in 2019. Following the health crisis, the boom in e-commerce has coincided with a notable shift in consumer preferences, with people now seeking products that are healthy, organic, and locally sourced. Retail survival will depend on its capacity to adapt to these changes by offering value-added shopping experiences and adopting an omnichannel model to strengthen its online presence.