Insights

Publication | BRG Retail

COVID-19 Forces the Transformation of Retail Organizations

Richard Maicki, Darren Morrison, and Corinne Lim

June 24, 2020

Transforming Retail Organizations to Address New Business Realities

Retailers face declining revenues as a result of the global pandemic and have been forced to make difficult decisions to endure economic uncertainty. Labor, being a major cost component, has been heavily impacted as retailers made swift decisions to contain the initial impact of COVID-19. These decisions—store closures, furloughs, salary and workforce reductions, and departmental shutdowns—have primarily been short term in nature.

Permanent solutions to COVID-19 remain murky in the near term, but one thing is clear: Retailers must transform their organizations fundamentally to support long-term survival. As post-COVID-19 trends emerge, retailers are realizing that past organization structures are no longer viable. And while government intervention or outside financing may buy retailers extra time to weigh their options, companies will need to take decisive action eventually to transform their organizations for a post-COVID-19 world.

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Darren Morrison

Managing Director

Chicago