What: The 12th report from World Retail Congress, a long-time partner of IADS.

Why it is important: This report also lists the awarded companies at the London Summit which took place last September. 2 IADS members were awarded: El Corte Inglés (Community Champion Award), and SM Supermalls, part of the SM Group (Customer Experience Gamechanger).

The 12th issue of the WRC is addressing the after-effects of the pandemic for the retail world, especially the issues caused by the end of the lockdowns on supply chains and customers’ mood, now that the initial euphoria is somehow calming. The new world is highly unpredictable, and this is why this report highlights the most important issues faced by retailers in their category or region:

• Logistic issues, leading to goods planned to arrive after the holiday season and therefore having to be discounted, are hardened by the staff shortage experienced in all countries. Consequently, it is expected that private labels and nearshoring will be highly favoured in the coming months (however, with consequences on prices as nearshoring has a cost),
• The pandemic has unlocked two strong trends: the need for store digitization, and sustainability, according to customers’ own terms. Gone are the days when retailers were the only one dictating the terms: now customers are expecting retailers to fully adapt to their own needs and demands, especially when it comes to how they shop.
• Uncertainty is fuelled by the surge of Covid variants and the impossibility to eradicate it, which boosts customers’ lack of confidence, regionally and temporarily. This leads to the fact that Online buying is here to stay, including for the older customers. Therefore, physical stores are not anymore competitors to online but must be re-engineered in complements to this channel. Furthermore, this fuels a circle: the pandemic leads customers to shop online, and then they realize that this is convenient, leading to a sustained demand for such convenience.
• When it comes to sustainability, it is all about communicating clearly to customers eco-labelling, certifications, and partnerships, to make sure that efforts made by retailers are clearly understood and perceived.

Due to the permanent uncertainty, the business planning process has changed:

• In the past, inputs were defined by historical performances, topline financial targets and broad industry outlook. Now, retailers must look at performances during similar disruptive periods, real time input from internal and external sources.
• Outputs were planned according to top-down targets. Now bottom-up targets based on granular inputs are used.
• Planning was made seasonally and is now revised monthly.
• Excel was the norm, and has been complemented with new tools (Microsoft BI, Tableau…) allowing to track in real-time, simplify, understand, and make decisions.

WRC report issue 12