A few weeks before this issue went to press, “Saturday Night Live” featured a sketch, “Amazon’s New Headquarters,” that depicted Jeff Bezos evaluating the mind-boggling enticements that metropolitan areas across the United States and Canada have offered Amazon to become the home of Amazon’s second headquarters. While in jest, the skit spoke volumes about the power of Amazon and e-commerce in general. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that few people outside of retail knew the name Jeff Bezos. Now he’s the world’s richest man who oversees a massively powerful company that cities are desperately trying to attract. The reason is simple: Amazon shows us where retail is headed.

The sketch appeared not long after the last e-commerce holiday-related data points rolled in. The numbers support e-retail’s rapidly growing importance. During the final two months of 2017, roughly…

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