After a year of temporary closures, rapid and extreme shifts in product demand, and tidal shifts to more digital and omnichannel shopping, retailers had to decide, learn and execute more quickly than ever before. All of that put stress on retailers’ supply chains and the personnel making them function.
The response to a fast-changing world and unpredictable future is captured in an all-encompassing byword: agility. It’s a hard word to avoid when describing how retailers navigate and survive the unending torrent of challenges the past year and a half has brought. In many cases, those were challenges that already existed for operators but were exacerbated and accelerated by the pandemic.
