Taking Care of Retail: Preparing for Peak

During April we published our “Taking Care of Retail” Report as we recognised a genuine need to support brands and share best practices from our customers on how to survive and thrive during the pandemic. At that time, we were all wondering whether the sharp rise in ecommerce sales was going to be sustained when life returned back to some kind of normal.

Three months on and we have published an update that reflects on the time since the initial report: ‘Taking Care of Retail”. For most brands, online sales are still rising and retail is still facing uncertain times. Travel restrictions remain in place, lockdowns are lifting and then returning and the need to wear masks indoors is contributing to a marked decline in physical footfall, particularly in our cities. This has resulted in a permanent shift in customer behaviour towards increased digital purchases.

The general consensus is that the pandemic has simply accelerated the pace of change in retail and brands need to urgently respond.  Retail is indeed having to evolve faster than ever before and brands must consider a world where the customer is in control, C2B style, rather than the typical B2C approach that we are all used to.

So as part of our update to “Taking Care of Retail’ we are sharing our learnings on 3 key trends which also underpin the introduction of our Essential Brand Toolkit. It is important to note that these trends are lasting and not temporary and will differentiate those brands that are able to quickly deploy digital capabilities to service new and existing customers in transformative ways.

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This post is taken from Taking Care of Retail: Preparing for Peak written by Proximity Insight CEO Cathy McCabe.

Included in the report:

• Personal is Still Powerful: An introduction
• The Rise of Virtual Commerce
• The Importance of Human Connection
• Supporting Peak During Uncertain Times
• The Essential Brand Toolkit
• David Jones Clienteling Success
• Still Time to Prepare For Peak

The research and findings in this report provides evidenced based insight into the retail industry’s performance during 2020. The report aims to help retailers prepare for the upcoming peak season in light of the protective measures imposed due to Covid-19. There is no sign up required to read or download the report and we hope that you find the content to be a useful resource.