During the Covid-19 crisis, finding the balance between the health and safety of citizens, versus protecting people’s livelihoods and the overall economy, is difficult at best. In most cases, leaders have understandably focused on slowing the spread of the virus, but the vast impact of these decisions on the economy are requiring government and business leaders to grapple now with how and when to reopen businesses, in a completely new context. 

Fashion retailers have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. In addition to contingency plans that include filing for bankruptcy, retail executives are challenged with determining how best to serve customers when business resumes. Much has been discussed about the need to hyper focus on core values and service—the real human element of the retail business—and yet, there is an awareness that social distancing and the real fear of congregating in public, may necessitate a more transactional approach to retail in the short term. Said differently, there’s a sense that people will want to re-engage and re-connect post pandemic, but that may not be possible in the same context as before the pandemic. 

Retailers are going to need to strike a balance between these two contrasting expectations with flexibility and the willingness to change as needed, especially on a local and personalized level. This is especially difficult for a business that looks for best practices that can be established and scaled nationally or even   globally. In many cases, the intransigence of heritage retailers has precipitated the so-called retail apocalypse, leaving room for up-start business that are more reactive to the market and more operationally adaptable. The major retailers that made it through the apocalypse into 2020, were largely relying on “too big to fail” mentalities, providing them a false sense of time and space to rethink their futures. The Covid-19 pandemic has all but eliminated this mindset, forcing major retailers to innovate quickly or close their doors. On the other hand, while start-ups are certainly more agile than their counterparts, they were heavily reliant on a booming economy coming into 2020 and a high marketing spend mentality. Now with businesses closed, this spend is not converting into the same dollars, also putting them at risk of closing. 

For those retailers who make it intact to the other side, business will not be, cannot be, “as usual.” It will require a company with the financial resources, technological know-how and progressive leadership needed to adapt quickly and often to the unknown.

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