The government sought to address some of this frustration with a series of overhauls over the last year that ministers hoped would lead major international retailers to invest substantial sums in improving the country's retail infrastructure, which is predominately mom-and-pop shops.
"There are thousands of breaches every month across industry and retail infrastructure.
The direct-selling model does not have to be centered around where there is heavy retail infrastructure, either.
The more you learn about the vast expanses of built retail infrastructure — active and inert — the more you wonder whether, perhaps, enough is enough.
In Hong Kong, with its dense retail infrastructure, there is not much need for consumers to shop virtually.To compare countries, BCG has come up with an "e-intensity index".
All the more striking, then, that America's retail infrastructure — its malls, supercenters, big boxes and other styles of store-clumping — has come to be characterized by rampant abundance.
But it has taken the economic downturn, with chain stores liquidating, mall tenancy slipping and car dealerships scheduled for closure, to focus popular attention on the problem with our retail infrastructure: there is too much of it.
Angela Ahrendts, the chief executive of Burberry, said: "The continued focus on the brand, ongoing investment in our digital, IT and retail infrastructure, especially in China, and a disciplined approach to driving growth underpin our confidence in delivering long-term sustainable returns".
But the basic problem, he said, was that "we don't have a retail infrastructure that can handle the product, we don't have consumers ready to buy it, and we don't have the auto industry ready to approve the use in their cars".
Faced with the possible demise of a broad swath of its retail infrastructure for music, movies and other media, Europe is, in some ways, merely catching up with the United States — and with the technological and economic forces that have swept through the entertainment industry.
