Retailers right now are talking about “making it easy” for consumers. It’s harder than it sounds.

In the past, stores were how beauty products were sold. That is finally changing.

Lord & Taylor is being sold to clothing rental company Le Tote for $75 million. This will likely be the first of many similar deals to come.

A number of retailers owned by private equity groups have gone bankrupt. That has led to the scapegoating of private equity for the problems of the retail industry. It’s not correct.

The same challenges that consumer brands face are affecting the hotel and lodging industry. How they respond to what consumers want now will determine what their future will be.

Brands and retailers all believe that faster delivery is better. Is that the right strategy if it adds a risk to their business that they’re not addressing?

Barneys New York has filed bankruptcy and entered into a loan that will bridge the business until it finds a buyer. But there aren’t buyers in the market for this kind of asset and liquidation is the inevitable result.

As brand owners have had to sell direct to consumers, they’ve had to take on the risk of being a retailer. New solutions are coming onstream now to reduce that risk.

A lawsuit that Amazon is reported to be considering may act against Amazon’s own long-term, bigger interests.

A reckoning in online retail is coming just as it has to traditional channels.