Why E-Commerce Will Kill Retail Sooner Than You Think | PeakSpan Perspectives

Why E-Commerce Will Kill Retail Sooner Than You Think

By

and

Jack Freeman

,

and

Yaseen Abdulridha

,

and

Mikayla Brenman

,

and

Eavan Murray

,

February 11, 2025

We just crossed over the quarter-century mark (2025). 30 years after Amazon and Alibaba launched, 25 years after the dotcom bubble, and 5 years after “the COVID boost.”

E-commerce as a % of total retail sales was 16% in 2024, up from 6.5% ten years earlier. E-commerce expansion is showing no signs of slowing down — with penetration projected to reach 20% by 2027. This has been largely due to i) more storefronts being created, ii) major innovation and advancement from incumbents like Amazon (who has 38% market share in the US!), and iii) struggling retail sales.

Some may call it bold, some may not. Nonetheless, one of our BIG predictions for this next quarter century is that we will see retail truly be reduced to ashes as we know it.

Here are 14 reasons why:

Personalization
SKU Proliferation
Speed and Convenience
Research and Product Information
Logistics Infrastructure
Generic Items and Cheap Items
Autonomous delivery
Scale Factors
Subscription Economy
Returns Infrastructure
Social and Live Commerce
Digital Payments and Checkout Experience
Retail Unit Economics
Food and Beverage
Bonus Chapter: and what about the environment?

In 2019, the e-commerce sector consumed approximately 2.1 billion pounds (about 950 million kilograms) of plastic packaging. This figure is projected to more than double, reaching an estimated 4.5 billion pounds (over 2 billion kilograms) by 2025. Studies indicate that 52% of people discard e-commerce packaging materials rather than reusing or recycling them, contributing to the growing waste problem

This by-product is scary to think about. If we are shipping all items (even small /generic ones) to a consumer’s front door in a cardboard box, packing materials will continue to balloon, leading to waste and environmental considerations. Not great…

That’s a wrap. Let us know which you agree with and which you disagree with. Certain shoppers like the in-person experience but we would argue that this cohort will continue to decline steeply for the reasons discussed above.

What will happen to retail? We suspect we will see a declining retail footprint and for the stores that remain, they remain on the basis of offering amazing experiences. For example, Barnes & Noble is opening 60 new stores in 2025. This is despite Amazon’s growing market share for books. Why? Because readers value the in-person experience. Similarly, many brands still do well with strategically placed stores where consumers can try on clothes, and touch and feel the brand. However, increasingly and over time, these stores may interact with you in person and then ship you your order.

In summary, in-person experiences will not die, but retail as we used to know it will.

About Jack Freeman

Jack has worked with growth-stage technology businesses his whole career and has partnered with over 25 portfolio companies at PeakSpan. He currently leads PeakSpan’s FinTech and Supply Chain investment themes. Jack was named to GrowthCap’s Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors List in 2025. Prior to joining PeakSpan, Jack worked at Stackpop, an early-stage startup, where he helped build a SaaS spend management platform that enabled CTOs and IT teams to buy and manage internet infrastructure. After Stackpop was disrupted by AWS, Jack joined Macquarie Capital, where he spent three years executing software M&A and capital markets transactions for technology businesses.

Jack holds a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College. Prior to Middlebury, he played Division I soccer at Seton Hall University and for the New York Red Bulls U-23 team. Jack lives in Larchmont, NY, with his wife and two dogs, Willow and Leeuwen. Once a year, Jack captains a team in a charity bike ride to the Hamptons to support his brother’s autism program, Quest, where he has raised over $100K. Since retiring from collegiate soccer, Jack has become an avid endurance athlete, completing five of the “Big Six” World Marathon Majors (London remaining), an Ironman, and a 50-mile ultramarathon. He is currently focused on improving his marathon time from 2:32:30 to sub-2:30.

About Yaseen Abdulridha

Yaseen joined PeakSpan Capital in 2021 and, over the past decade, has spent his career working on and alongside software companies at pivotal moments in their respective journeys. Before PeakSpan, he was an investment banking Associate at J.P. Morgan, advising software companies on M&A and capital raises. Earlier in his career, he worked as a quantitative analyst building statistical and machine learning models focused on portfolio risk modeling.

Yaseen holds both an M.S. and a B.S. in Quantitative Economics from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is a CFA Charterholder. A builder at heart, he is obsessed with the mission of being the partner of choice for growth-stage entrepreneurs and has the privilege of joining exceptional teams as they scale go-to-market, evolve product strategy, and build enduring companies. He lives in California with his wife and pinches himself every day that he gets to be part of such an amazing team and boards.

About Mikayla Brenman

Mikayla grew up in Chapel Hill, NC. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College with a B.A. in Spanish while also completing pre-med requirements and captaining the varsity soccer team. Before PeakSpan, she worked at a neuroscience research lab at UNC Chapel Hill and at a management consulting firm.

Mikayla joined PeakSpan in 2023 after interning at the firm the prior summer. She started on the GTM Tech, Payments & Fintech, and Supply Chain Tech investing teams and has since moved to supporting PeakSpan's Strategic Development program, where she works closely with portfolio companies on exit preparedness, strategic positioning, and long-term value creation, in addition to Investor Relations. She currently serves as a board observer for Dispatch and Routefusion. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, trying new sports, and listening to anything but country music.

About Eavan Murray

Eavan received her BSE in biomedical engineering with a minor in economics from Duke, where she discovered early on that she wanted to build a career investing in healthcare-related technologies, leading her to her first summer at PeakSpan. During this internship, she quickly realized the B2B SaaS world was vast, ever-evolving, and incredibly exciting. After returning for a second summer and eventually joining full-time in 2024, Eavan has worked across the Digital Health, Supply Chain, and FinTech teams, learning something new every day from the talented people in the network and portfolio companies. She loves working out of the New York office but always appreciates trips to the office out west to see her family in the Bay Area.

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