COVID-19: The Ultimate Stress Test For Retailers

Retailers who do not factor COVID-19 into their operations are facing an existential crisis. Pandemics are an extreme version of business disruption. The new coronavirus strain (COVID-19) is the latest reminder that companies need to plan and prepare for the unexpected in order to be resilient and flexible as a course of doing business. For retailers, COVID-19 is an urgent threat, in addition to other already existing impacts forcing retailers to radically restructure their business and operating models to quickly adapt to change. The combination of impacts from several factors — including social, economic, environmental, technological, political, legal and ethical —​ have placed pressure on retailers to transform business models. COVID-19 is now compounding these impacts and exposing already weak spots among all segments and sizes of retailers. Read more at Retail Dive.