How E-Commerce Fits into Retail’s Post-Pandemic Future

If we have learned one thing from the past year, it’s that things can change in an instant — changes we thought we had years to prepare for, behaviors we assumed we’d stick to forever, expectations we have of ourselves and our organizations. This is true of the way we live, the way we work, and the way we shop and buy as consumers. In early 2021, the EY Future Consumer Index (Index), which has surveyed thousands of consumers since the early days of the pandemic, found that 80% of U.S. consumers are still changing the way they shop. Sixty percent are currently visiting brick-and-mortar stores less than before the pandemic, and 43% shop more often online for products they would have previously bought in stores. One of the most significant effects of Covid-19 is the realization that, for many of us, geographical location has become less relevant — so long as there’s an internet connection. Read more at Harvard Business Review.