The retail industry as a whole is showing signs of recovery from the 2008 recession and the subsequent financial crisis.

Even though the majority of retailers are still struggling, their struggles have nothing to do with the economic situation or 'difficult trading conditions' to use the favourite lexicon of retail executives.

Retailers who continue to struggle are struggling because they have not learnt the strategies for functioning in the new retail environment.

The retail environment is rapidly changing.

Strategies and techniques that were once effective are no longer applicable to the new retail environment. The internet has completely revolutionise consumers buying behaviour.

Consumers have access to more merchandise in a day than they were exposed to in five years few decades ago.

This 'Paradox of choice' as author Barry Schwartz puts it, has also changed the way and reason people buy.

According to the centre for retail research, online shopping will reach two hundred and twelve billion dollars in Europe in 2014 and three hundred and six billion dollars in the US the same year.

Besides brick and mortar stores losing out to online shopping, the internet is also placing tremendous pressure on brick and mortar profitability as retailers are forced to lower price to compete with online retailers such as Amazon and eBay.

Amazon and eBay have completely destroyed certain retail categories.

Books and entertainment retailers are all but disappeared from the retail landscape. Those still holding on are hanging by the teeth.

In the UK the three largest books and entertainment retailers are on life support. WH Smith sells more groceries than it does books. Waterstones in on the brink. HMV is in administration…retailer code for about to go out of business.

No actually it has already gone out of business, it is just buying time before it finally shut its doors.

The reason these retailers are in trouble is they have not adjusted their strategies to taking into account the new retail environment. The retail industry has changed forever, and it will continue to change.

It will never be the same again.

Those retailers who understand this current reality and adjust their operations to take into account the new dynamic are the one who will survive or even prevail in the new retail environment.