Yes, Amazon is “unstoppable” and “we are living in the decade of Amazon,” but competing retailers are simply looking at the issue from the wrong perspective, says a D.A. Davidson Institutional Equity Report. The strategy retailers are using now will look very different in the future. Some corporations will find the magical formula and will prosper while others will perish. The key is understanding the formula and being on the right side of history with the power of Amazon Web Services and its retail sales make it a formidable giant for the foreseeable future.

Watch retail business model change; the showroom of the future

All the ingredients for a traditional retail sales boom are in place: In October, the Consumer Confidence Index hit 125.9, the highest level in 17 years; unemployment near record lows; and real GDP up to 3.1% in the second quarter, showing a reasonably strong economy.

The good news for brick and mortar retailers is that more than 3,000 store openings occurred in the first three quarters of 2017. But the bad news, inconsistent with the relatively strong economic numbers, is that more than double that number, 6,800, of stores are set to close, the widest spread in history.

Much of the hand-wringing over declining retail fortunes has been directed at Amazon, with retailers wondering how they can derail the momentum. Sucharita Mulpuru, who leads Forrester’s E-Commerce, Retail, and Marketing practice, says Amazon is the new “evil empire.”

But rather than fighting the empire, Mulpuru sees a different business model as they resist Amazon. “Retailers will remain reluctant to work with Amazon out of fear of it resulting in lower prices for their merchandise and Amazon stealing their intellectual property,” she said. Amazon will hasten the death of weak retailers, while strong ones are likely to change their business models. Certain retailers may “give up on stores, either in the number open today or the formats of existing locations, as they transition to more showroom type formats.”