The rapid growth of e-commerce has hit U.S. department stores hard, as American consumers have been cutting back dramatically on shopping trips — particularly to traditional malls. As a result, top department store chains such as Macy’s (NYSE: M), Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP), and Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) have all been reporting weak comp sales trends.