Consumers have been making big changes in the way they shop over the past 20 years as e-commerce has grown and developed. Although e-commerce only makes up a little more than 10 percent of overall retail sales (according to the U.S. Census Bureau), it still amounted to more than $450 billion in 2017, and it is growing.

As an overall industry, retail itself has undergone significant changes in recent years, but those changes have impacted e-commerce (online retail) to a far greater degree.[...]