- Number of retailer bankruptcies in 2016: 9
- Number of retailer bankruptcies in 2017 so far: 9
- Growth of online retail sales during the 2016 holiday season, versus 2015: 20%
- Number of jobs expected to be cut across all retailers in 2017: 38,000
- Number of jobs expected to be created by Amazon over next 18 months: 100,000
- Amazon sales in North America in 2010: $16 billion
- Amazon sales in North America in 2016: $80 billion
- Percentage of US Amazon sales made through Prime Now (2-hour delivery) in 2015: 10
- Percentage of US Amazon sales made through Prime Now (2-hour delivery) in 2016: 13
- Percentage of online retail spending that happened via mobile in 2010: 2
- Percentage of online retail spending that happened via mobile in 2016: 20
Sources: Two Extra Shopping Days Make 2016 the Biggest Holiday Yet [Editor’s note: link defunct]; What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?; The Troubles at the American Mall Are Coming to a Boil
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
