Metamorphosis

If anything, the crisis will elevate all of us to our next level of resilience.

Whether we were supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies, re-birthed into stoic hard-line mammalian masterpieces, we [mostly] are renewed with a new vision or purpose in both personal and professional pursuits. You can take stock of the huge amount of innovation, resilience and togetherness that’s being borne from the global pandemic despite the terrible news of redundancy, closures and casual pandemonium.

Take my industry – Retail Design – We are being jet propelled into a new era of customer service, innovation of concepts & processes, whilst trying to drive a feeling of togetherness to ensure both staff and shoppers feel safe within a physical space, but also to make sure we continue to push forward with concepts designed to challenge, excite and engage at a level of experience expected within the modern shopping landscape.

However, its important to take stock of the many small businesses who are also having to adapt fast to cope with the accelerating retail landscape.

There’s some excellent support for these small businesses, especially in the UK – The government is generating a further 20 mil for SMB’s to invest into new technology and equipment that will help them to cope, providing a great opportunity to give them the tools needed to scale up their operations, reach new customers and stay relevant!

Tech giants are also offering their support, take Google for example, through Bill Ready (President, commerce) and his team, the googly gaggle have produced a 25-page guide on how to adapt within this new and dynamic retail landscape. It’s a great read for anyone in the industry, whether you have a small business or not. Find it here:

For the brands there’s a real challenge to stay relevant and turn their power to the greater good. Connecting communities, collaborating (where possible) and spotlighting their charitable work and contribution towards their sectors.

Take Zara's masks for health workers example - "Zara has converted its factories to produce cotton face masks and other protective equipment to curb the shortage hospitals and first responders are facing in the United States" Stout favourites; Guinness are donating ￡1,000,000 to support the drinks industry, in particular the bar staff facing reduced hours during social distancing.

Many are taking the opportunity to regroup and reposition their retail offerings too, ensuring that multichannel campaigns are relevant, timely and in some cases future-proofed (even if that future looks like 1997 New York through Snake Plissken’s eyes)

However, according to several brand leaders I have spoken to there is a resounding belief that you should not disrupt a long-term plan or strategy with a short-term gain. Do adapt, but do not destroy years of hard brand building to jump on the COVID bandwagon or produce solutions that do not have any long-term strategic value.

Simple adaptations to keep distancing measures in place, swapping touch points with gesture control or using voice activation to ensure consumers still engage at the point of sale could be the norm for some time, not to mention more contactless tech for a frictionless instore experience.

Speaking of which, Amazon’s Go concept is expected to open 30 stores in the UK offering A full contactless experience, negating the need for ‘spit screens’ as I like to call them, or the (sometimes overly chatty) checkout staff. An interesting consideration when something like C19 decimates ‘backbone’ roles within a store environment. Certainly part of the wider conversation on the role of the ‘human’ within future retail stores, for another time maybe. 

I for one, am excited to see what innovations will come from the pressure to adapt to the future landscape on both client and supplier sides of the coin.