Maersk Q1 Earnings Beat Expectations as Iran Conflict Clouds Shipping Outlook 
Broadcom Eyes $35 Billion AI Chip Financing Deal With Apollo and Blackstone 
US Auto Industry Urges Trump to Block Chinese EV Market Access 
Aker BP Q1 Profit Jumps on Higher Oil Prices and Asset Reversal 
OCBC Q1 Profit Rises 5% on Strong Wealth Management and Non-Interest Income 
Armani Group Eyes Strategic Stake Sale to Luxury Giants 
Nintendo Shares Tumble as Weak Forecast and Rising Switch 2 Costs Worry Investors 
K+S Raises 2026 Earnings Outlook After Strong Q1 Results 
GOP Lawmakers Probe Sam Altman and OpenAI Ahead of Potential IPO 
CoreWeave Q1 2026 Revenue Surges as AI Infrastructure Demand Grows 
Orsted Q1 EBITDA Beats Expectations Despite U.S. Impairments 
AWS Data Center Overheating Disrupts Cloud Services in Northern Virginia 
Goldman Sachs Delays Fed Rate Cut Forecast to 2026 Amid Rising Inflation Concerns 
CSL Shares Crash as Profit Warning and $5 Billion Impairment Shake Investors 
Reliance Industries Reworks Jio IPO Into Fresh Share Sale Amid Valuation Talks 
Trump Invites Top CEOs Including Nvidia, Apple, Boeing to China Summit With Xi Jinping 
The year 2020 will never be forgotten in history as it was the time when the world was gripped by a pandemic that has killed more than a million people already. In this modern era, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis worldwide was so massive as it did not just took away lives but ended livelihoods as businesses were forced to close down.
How the retailing business changed amid the pandemic
As per Fortune, before 2020 ended, more than 12,200 retail stores across the U.S. have shut down as the pandemic changed the retailing business forever. It has caused a big shift that most business owners are not yet prepared for, and this led to the closure of stores.
Big firms have been affected by COVID-19 big-time and what more for the smaller businesses out there. Definitely, it is not only in America, but store closures also happened in many countries worldwide. The main reason for this is the sudden shift to e-commerce.
Online retail stores have dominated the business structures as people started to do their shopping via the internet. Since the public is not allowed to go out of their homes as lockdowns are in place to curb the virus, online shopping remained the only option to get supplies and other things.
The boom in the online business led to the massive decline in the retailing business, and even big chain stores like JC Penney, Gap, Bed and Bath, Walmart, Target, Macy’s, and more have close some if not all of their stores in certain states. Many have also filed for bankruptcy as the companies are no longer earning, yet they still have so much to pay like taxes, rents, salaries, and more.
The “retail apocalypse” continues in 2021
While COVID-19 started last year, the world has not yet fully curb the spread of the virus. This means that people are still staying in their homes, and in turn, businesses continue to suffer. Many companies have permanently shut their stores down, and many more are closing out this year.
The pandemic is truly an “apocalypse” that has terrorized the retail sector. Businesses that are still thriving and have previous plans of expansion have already halted their plans because that is the only way to survive in the business for now.
