The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way consumers shop. After the 2020 holiday shopping season proved the power of e-commerce, mobile apps, and the adoption of alternative fulfillment methods, many of us are wondering if we will see a big return to in-store shopping once the pandemic is behind us. If there’s one thing we know for certain, the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the pressure on brick-and-mortar stores to find a new purpose beyond simply transacting.
The pandemic has upended our lives for the foreseeable future, changing simple experiences like going to the store forever. Shopper behaviour was already beginning to shift before COVID-19, due to technologies and services like omnichannel retailing, such as BOPIS and curbside pick-up, but has the pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of retail stores for the better?
In a 1962 episode of The Jetsons, matriarch and style-queen Jane Jetson is jostled awake by the raucous wails of her videophone. Alarmed that she might be seen looking less than chic, Jane swiftly scurries to put on her “morning mask”—a slip-on, made-up version of her own face—before answering the call.
