What happened during the crisis is about to become history. Sales losses have been mostly contextual: most stores simply were closed and, with very few exceptions, mobility restrictions imposed by the quarantine made it impossible for people to leave their homes and shop.
Therefore, I strongly believe that the significant increase in online sales in the last three to four months was primarily due to these contextual reasons, and although significant changes are coming to the industry, I don’t think this is the most significant of them. It’s reasonable to admit that the trends already seen before the pandemic, with online capturing each year more new sales than B&M, may eventually accelerate its pace, especially in the first Post-Covid19 months, but much more will change. Many Retail specialists are expressing views that are consistent with my conviction on this subject. Eventually, others may have contrary visions. We will all have to wait for more data to be available in the coming months, to better understand the reach of this phenomenon. (…)
Text written by
João Carvalho
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