What: the pandemic accelerated our acceptance of everything from kerbside pickup to virtual fitting rooms

Why is it important: anything that customers perceive as making their life easier will be here to stay.

Surviving retailers are now experimenting with new ways of doing business. They are streaming virtual shopping events and allowing consumers to book online consultations. They are doing away with traditional cashiers and rolling out contactless payment systems. They are using their stores as warehouses that deliver packages to customers directly. Some executives and consumers are confident these new approaches will stick.

Black Friday

They don’t expect a return to the Black Friday frenzy but prepare instead for big holiday promotions to start earlier and last longer. This doesn’t mean that holiday shipping delays will disappear. Executives said slower deliveries are still likely because they expect e-commerce spending to remain elevated even as the pandemic recedes.

Some malls will be back, with a new look

They do expect malls will make a comeback once the virus is under control even though a quarter of the US malls will close by 2023, according to Deborah Weinswig, chief executive of retail and technology research and advisory firm Coresight Research.

To survive, US malls need to make dramatic changes and borrow from what works elsewhere. Mall owners should invest in theme parks and other attractions to woo shoppers as in China where malls have become studios for live-stream shopping and other events.

Retailers will rely less on discounts

Discounting became less prevalent during the pandemic. Now some big retailers are more and more relying on data to sell more items at full price by personalizing promotions rather than offering broad deals to everyone. Macy’s, for instance, is tailoring its promotions based on a customer’s location and buying habits. “Showing the right products to the right people at the right time helps you discount less,” said John Strain, Gap’s chief digital and technology officer.

A store is no longer a store

Stores morphed into Amazon-style fulfilment centres during the pandemic as retailers looked for places to pack online orders. One reason that won’t change once the economy reopens: It is cheaper. Target said it costs on average 40% less to ship orders that it fulfils from its stores, compared with the expense of shipping from its warehouses.

Major chains closed about 8,700 stores in 2020 after shuttering 9,800 in 2019, according to Coresight. Retailers will continue to purge underperforming locations while negotiating lower rents from landlords to make the remaining spaces more viable.

Kerbside business

Picking up everything a store’s kerbside became a regular habit for many consumers. Now there is no going back, retail executives and shoppers said. For consumers, it is about convenience.

Target estimates that it costs an average of 90% less when shoppers pick up their orders kerbside or in stores, compared with shipping from a warehouse. There is a downside though. Retailers lose out on impulse purchases when shoppers don’t come into stores. So expect to see more upselling kerbside, said Renee Harwood, a retail adviser to RingCentral Inc. When the employee delivers a package to the customer’s car, “he or she might say: ‘We have a matching jacket for that, would you like to see it?’”

Shopping will become a virtual reality

As e-commerce proliferates, the barriers separating physical and online shopping experiences will blur. Chains are adding virtual fitting rooms, hosting live-stream shopping events and allowing shoppers to make virtual appointments with sales associates and stylists.

Customers that want to surround themselves with a community when the shop can turn to Instagram and TikTok. More than one in three shoppers made a purchase on social media in the past year.

Covid-19 Rewrote the Rules of Shopping. What Is Next