A retail apocalypse could turn into a retail Armageddon, with tens of thousands of storefronts projected to close by 2020’s end, but the prediction is spurring alternate scenarios. And in payment methods, retail bankruptcies are illuminating gift cards and the “breakage income” connected with them. Businesses sold gift cards to consumers stay on an even keel, but the cards are likely worthless for the firms that didn’t make it – and the clock is ticking for other recipients. All this, Today in Data.
Data:
25K: Number of retail storefronts that will close by the end of 2020, per a Coresight report.
9K: Approximate number of brick-and-mortar storefronts that closed last year.
58.6%: Share of consumers who expect to be able to pay in-store without interacting with a card reader.
50%: Approximate share of all Americans who own at least one unredeemed gift card.
$1.9B: Unused gift card liabilities Walmart logged last year.
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