In the third session of our FREE interactive webinar series we will be exploring The Impact of COVID-19 on 'This Sector' with Neil Gibb, Consultant, Writer and Future Thinker. We caught up with Neil ahead of the webinar to get a preview of what he'll be sharing:
We are in the middle of a great transformation, a structural shift in how our economies and societies work on par with the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution; and in many ways even bigger. Every industry is being impacted, but retailing is at the forefront of this change.
As we come out of COVID19 lockdown there is a lot of talk about ‘returning to normal’ or of the ‘new normal’, but prior to the pandemic the only normal was that everything was changing. The disruption caused by the lockdown will only accelerate this change.
Our media’s orientation tends to the negative, to dwell in the problem – the crisis on the high street, chains closing. Or where it does look to solutions, often looks to how the former status quo can be restored. What it actually reporting though are the symptoms of change.
The companies that are thriving are the ones that are embracing this change, focusing on the upside, letting go of old way of thinking, some of them quite fundamental.
Many retailers are still essentially ‘big boxes’, in some cases with warehouses full of stuff for people to buy. Digital fulfillment and agile disruption is rendering this model obsolete. The lockdown is just accelerating this process.
The store of the future has a very different role.
Many companies still talk about digital like it is separate. But soon ‘digital’ will not even be term we need to use. It will on the one hand permeate everything, while on the other become invisible.
The brands and companies that will thrive in the coming decade are those that embrace what is happening. There are huge opportunities for those that are prepared to think and act differently.
In 2008 I published a book called The Participation Revolution. In the last two years it was a WH Smiths and Amazon bestseller. More crucially the thinking in it has been used by startups and companies looking to transform and change.
In my talk I will draw on three of the case studies in the book (well two and half really), as a means to demonstrate and provoke conversations and discussion on the role of retailers in the emerging new world.
My goal is to share some thinking, introduce models and ideas, and start conversations that pave the way for a new era of retailing – one that is better for society, the planet and business.
THE IMPACT ON 'THIS SECTOR'
Wednesday 10th June | 2pm – 3:30pm
Neil Gibb - Consultant, Writer and Future Thinker