What: US Retailers, who were supposed to be swept out by the pandemic, seem healthier than ever.

Why it is important: IADS members also took the hit of the 2020 lockdowns, which forced them to structurally change their ways of operations, which is also starting to be paying off.

The Covid-19 pandemic was supposed to be the final blow to stores, in the continuation of the Retail Apocalypse. On the contrary, retailers are bouncing back healthier, with many US companies exceeding their 2019 profits.

According to the newspaper, this is due to a better inventory management with fewer goods translated into less cluttered stores, leading to a better ins-store experience and less off-priced sales. What is more, the scarcity of goods due to the international logistic chain bottleneck allows them to charge products are full-price and rely less on discounts to maintain the top line. Finally, the race to online also allowed US retailers to reduce the number of stores and therefore also work on their operational expenses. The Wall Street Journal talks about the “Great Retail Reset”.

The Great Shopping Reset How the Pandemic Helped Fix the Retail Industry