What: An opinion paper on what to remember from the conclusions drawn during the pandemic.

Why it is important: As many IADS leaders know, trees do not grow to the skies by themselves, and trends pass. Online growth in times of pandemic when stores are closed do not imply that the online market share in purchases remains the same over time.

In a refreshing manner, the contributor reminds that the so-called 10 years of e-commerce acceleration acquired during the pandemic were probably not more than a mirage, just like the changes in category consumption and usage, such as the explosion of grocery home delivery.

Two years after the beginning of the pandemic, it appears that online spending is decreasing when stores are reopening, big ticket spendings are reduced to the profit of restaurants and clothing (which were hard hit during the Covid). All in all, the great acceleration might be more of one year or two, according to the contributor. We would not however that the Covid has been a blessing in disguise as it also acted as a strong organizational wake-up call for retail companies, something that can not be seen in the retail numbers from the US census bureau.

Retail: from the great acceleration to the great rebalancing