An emerging urban middle class has made grocery shopping the engine of domestic retail sales growth, taking in 41 percent of all retail spending in China, which analysts at Citigroup estimate will be up 55 percent over five years to $600 billion in 2012.
Workers like Busk are the hidden engine of the U.S. retail economy, helping to load and unload shipments at enormous distribution centers for big-box and online sellers.
Warehouse work is the hidden engine of the U.S. retail sector, but many of the so-called "lumpers" who load trucks bound for major retailers earn poverty wages on a contingent basis.
Of course, developing these engines for retail will probably be harder than it has been for travel.
This new generation of retail choice engines will offer transparency, neutrality, and an unlimited catalog.
A new generation of retail choice engines will work more clearly on behalf of customers by offering transparency, neutrality, and an unlimited catalog.
Moreover, when you think about the growth of price comparison engines in other sectors outside of retail, such as Kayak for travel, NerdWallet* for credit cards, CoverHound* for insurance and others, it really drives the point home that the mechanics of price adjustment are more and more driven by transparency and choice in the marketplace.
But rising interest rates are expected to cast a monkey wrench into a big part of the engine driving retail banking, meaning banks built with too much attention to mortgages won't be going far in the new year.
But there is growing evidence that the engine of growth is losing steam, with retail sales slowing.
"Consumption is the engine of the UK economy and the retail sector which, hammered by a weak pound, tighter margins and customers beset by real wage declines, are in the eye of the storm," he said.
