What: interesting perspectives on the 2020 learnings and what to expect in 2021

Why it is important: confronting and balancing learnings with future expectations.

RetailDive reviews the successful 2020 pivotal actions in retail and confronts them with 2021 expectations and trends:

• As also shown in ourWhite Paper the key to success during lockdowns was to place the customer at the centre of the stage, and organise the sales model around it (store, e-commerce, digital activations…). This implied leveraging the sales staffs, by showing empathy, care and flexibility, enabling them to fully focus on customers without worrying too much on the context. For full efficiency, organisations had to be simpler, flattened, and favouring initiatives. For 2021, it is expected that these organisational changes are further implemented and here to stay.
• E-commerce and its corollaries, inventory and supply chain management, were a lifeline for retailers this year. New technologies are also here to stay in 2021, but not always for the front office: back office must also be considered. Also, a major topic to be embraced by retailers is how to get rid of the discrepancies between the various systems they might use: this will be a roadblock in a very near future.
• Working in a different mode and using new tools: in 2020, collaboration and information sharing was key for successful organisations to disseminate new skills within their teams. In 2021, it is highly probable that this skill-sharing will still be the norm, but also involve skill management, to make sure each and every organisation can use the right know-how at the right moment in the right place, be it one of the stores or online.

The world of retail in 2020 and looking toward the future