“The future is already here, it's just not very distributed.”- William GibsonEver since the pandemic began, the narrative of a great acceleration in online shopping has taken hold, with some even claiming that we experienced 10 years of e-commerce growth in a matter of months. While many markets did see a huge surge in e-commerce penetration during the height of physical store lockdowns, it turns out that facts are stubborn things. In reality we are almost exactly where we would have been had the Covid crisis not hit. In this episode, with Michael weighing in from the SIAL conference in Montreal, we challenge yet another overly simplistic narrative that, had you bought into it, might have caused you to do precisely the opposite of what you should have done. We also learn that, contrary to popular belief, Steve is not a hype man for physical retail, but rather devoutly anti bullsh*t.What's really going on with online shopping growth, why your mileage may vary, and why we often get so much wrong about e-commerce are at the heart of this deep dive.But first we open up with the retail news that caught our attention this week, including Lululemon's 5-year plan to double their revenue, Uniqlo's plans to open 400-500 new stores in the continuing rejection of all the retail apocalypse nonsense, and what to make of the departure of Old Navy's CEO (and Gap's overall lack of remarkability). We also unpack the interesting trend of the D getting taken out of DTC as more disruptor brands choose to explore wholesale distribution. Plus, in our very popular everything old is new again segment: the return of print catalogs! The McKinsey ArticleThe Quickening The WSJ ArticleThe Pandemic Was Supposed To Push All Shopping Online. It Didn't. Steve Recent Forbes Articles The Myth of the Great E-Commerce AccelerationWhat We Often Get Wrong About E-Commerce And Why It Matters Past Podcast Episodes We ReferenceThe Store As Brand Hub w/ Target's Nancy KingThe Great DTC v. Wholesale Debate w/ Simeon Siegel Understanding Warby Parker and Customer-Based Valuation w/ Dan McCarthyWhat We Get Wrong About E-commerceCustom Fit Solutions w/ Indochino's Drew Green About UsSteve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,      The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext!  You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!