Retail Recovery

October 18, 2021
The pandemic’s destruction of traditional shopping has created an opportunity for companies to reinvent themselves according to this timely survival guide for the industry. Retail consultant Pilkington (Retail Therapy) argues that when much of the world’s economy shut down in March 2020, businesses were quickly divided into those that had already modernized their operations and those that clung to traditional models, in effect “creating a reset moment for the entire industry.” He painstakingly catalogs the changes that roiled the sector and the ways many companies were already lagging in adapting to changes wrought by the internet: there’s “long-troubled brand” Revlon, which “saw revenues down 26 percent in the first three quarters of 2020,” for example, and things at a declining Victoria’s Secret only got worse. Walmart, meanwhile, began upping its digital presence to compete with Amazon in 2016, while also expanding physical stores, capitalizing on an “advantage that Amazon cannot replicate,” and Patagonia was well prepared for workplace disruptions thanks to its already-flexible practices. There’s a wealth of interviews with CEOs, and plenty of in-depth analysis on offer to provide a road map for those emerging “from the wreckage of the old order.” The result is a solid handbook for leaders navigating still-uncertain currents.