Welcome to my new monthly trends newsletter.
We keep hearing the term acceleration of trends. From a retail perspective, this pandemic is certainly a catalyst, condensing trends that were previously going to take a decade to drop off, into only a few years, and some, just a few months.
To some extent, Covid19 is precipitating revolutions in the industry that would have come anyway. On the other hand it is also precipitating revolutions that are long overdue, paving way-an opportunity to recalibrate and reinvent the wheel.
Companies not only in fashion and beauty, but across industries, will be forced to not only adapt but redefine their core business models, or they simply wont survive.
Maybe it's time to dispense of archaic business practices that were already becoming disoriented. Ultimately, when the dust settles, the retail landscape might be unrecognizable. What were once the pillars of the retail industry are beginning to teeter which begs the question for a lot of companies: restore and adapt, or dismantle and start over?
Either way, I'm hopeful that more robust, inclusive, and more sustainable business models may be on the other side.
While I do hope for positive change, I do not want to undermine the very tragedy retail faces. Even as stores reopen, foot traffic isn't ramping up but tottering forth, as a result, many brands still face plunging sales. The retail industry is unequivocally taking the brunt of economic devastation as it muddles through a discretionary coma.
With market dynamics in a whirlwind, changing by the day, COVID-19 is reaping both fundamental and cultural changes in the industry, some positive, but many extremely painful for many stakeholders.
But the moratorium the industry currently faces, might be a double edged sword, leading to a reset and forcing us to think it creative ways we wouldn't otherwise, although undeniably at the expense of the bottom line.
Here are the most implicative industry shifts I see on the horizon right now.
Necessity really is the mother of innovation! I'm ready for some change. But there are definitely things I will miss.
Are you ready? Lets go
-Gabi
