The early weeks of reacting to the rapid spread of Covid-19, impending lockdown and actual lockdown have had massive implications for retailers and they have been forced to react and innovate faster than they ever before.
While the impact to sales and profits has ranged from unprecedented demand to catastrophic cessation, the response to Covid-19 has consistently presented a huge opportunity to create new fast and lean ways of working. To cite some examples, decisions are being made at speed with fewer stakeholders than ever before imagined; meetings are run more efficiently with digital tools as the ‘new norm’; resources are deployed flexibly to support where the need is; teams are upskilled rapidly through online micro-learning and people are enjoying a different work-life routine.
One of our clients has created a project to leverage lasting change. We are helping them use this unique lock-down period to capture lessons learned and adapt their ways of working for the future. This will set the foundation for not only a much simpler way of doing things, but will also help provide clarity on where cost can be taken out, when it inevitably will need to be in the face of a global recession and hugely suppressed consumer demand.
