To help otherwise healthy firms survive the current crisis and safeguard the

corresponding jobs, governments need to help the retail sector weather the three
shocks it is faced with: a demand shock, a supply shock, and a productivity shock. In
the short run, it is necessary to support retail firms just like other firms in the
business sector. Yet, the specificities of the retail sector call for tailored policy
responses.
On the basis of consumer

Raising of new businesses/products/ services

What type of, when, where and how the products will be sold will change with the establishment of new
business model that supports the new normal

Understanding the points of change in consumer purchasing flow lines

Online merging with offline shifts into high gear

Redefining the role played by real stores as physical stores will be supplemental to online stores

Redesigning of online based purchasing channels

On the basis of retail store

Creating stores that support “new lifestyles and patterns”

Creating stores that are safe and secure for customers and employees

formulating and implementing a roadmap for contactless stores by expanding self - checkouts or
contactless terminals, working on manpower reduction and unmanned stores

Assuring Human Resources and redefining what they should be

Change of policy from hiring and educating in – house to securing outsourced human resources with the
required skills

For a retail brand’s operations

Establishing headquarters operations that will not hamper operations even in an emergency

Store managers and other senior officials will always be questioned on time to time basis for new
techniques and ideas that can be adopted for efficient store management.

Headquarters operations will be mostly based on remote work

Increase in Investment for more efficiency and improvement in operations by adopting AI/ IoT
Visualisation of store status using digital means such as AI/IoT which will reduce manpower operations
such as the supervisor now may not need to be on site to monitor the situation or the amount of work
done.

Development of contactless communication infrastructure and thorough operations

For the suppliers

Re-examination of Business continuity plans with business partners and also maintaining a close
relationship with them

Examining the ideal means of Business Continuity Plan aiming that the business will have an eternal life

Implementing digital SCM reforms such as sales status/ stock status coordination for stable supply

Mutual Evaluation of each other’s worth in the business for healthy functioning of the business

Strategic reforms by the Government for the retail sector

Liquidity assistance should be made available to the retailers

Government should offer emergency support to all retailers and ensure its accessibility to all whether
they are small independent shops or big chains

Help retailers in dealing with labour shortages

Increasing financial incentives

Providing ease in retail regulations for labour market on a temporary basis

Ensure that their remains a sufficient competition in the retail sector following the crisis

Challenging exploitative pricing behaviours

Carefully monitoring the merger activities

Facilitate licensing and ease in registration to promote the entry of new firms

Present scenario of the retail industry

This pandemic has posed quite a lot of problems for the people & businesses in
every aspect. specially for the retail industry, entrepreneurs, traders and others
related to or dependent on non - essential industry, 2020- 2021 are the year in
which everything changed. As people stopped moving out of their homes,
expenditure constantly decreased and lead to a huge decrease in sales all over.
Not only it declined sales, but also managed to change the mind set of people
regarding expenditure in retail industry and specially who are dealing in non-
essential commodities.
With the COVID-19 pandemic changing life as we know it, it is inevitable that a
new normal will emerge which will includes changes in lifestyle, as consumer
mind-sets has also changed. The industry is aiming to understand the impact
areas, factors affecting retailers and consumers like the change in behaviour of
consumers, and other demographic & societal changes, technological
developments, etc. So that retail brands & entrepreneurs can work upon and find
real solutions for most of their existing problems and gain their market back.
Impact
Demographic changes
Change in behaviour of the customer and shifting of preferences
The ongoing pandemic is unquestionably a very fertile area of uncertainty. Many
things about it are uncertain. People whom we consider as real time shoppers &
keen fashion absorbers, like men & women aged between 25-38 years, have shift
in their thoughts and perception about the situation and things have changed for
them throughout with relation to pre Covid and post Covid situations. The
pandemic has significantly influenced the people work, live and adapt.
And apparently, those people who were used to shop regularly and spend a huge
amount on fashion & clothing before the pandemic have shifted towards
shopping occasionally post Covid & now they are hardly investing any amount on
fashion & clothing considering it to be an unnecessary expense and in many cases
this is the result of decrease in income also. People now have shifted their
preferences towards more productive goods like laptops, smartphones etc.
Affordability, becoming a criteria for shopping
Brand stores and e-commerce sites are trying on introducing a new affordable line
of fashion merchandise as many people have lost their jobs during the pandemic
or have struggled with their salaries which have eventually made them shift
towards products on affordable side and investing on basics which can be wore in
a multiple ways.
Omni channel marketing gaining it’s grounds
The innovative offerings and opportunities offered by Omni channel retailers are filling the gap
between physical and virtual selling and are clearly aligned with the existing customer needs
and is supporting consistency in customer experience.
Due to the current external situations it is neither safe nor possible to engage customers
physically. So some retailers are bridging this gap through Omni channel marketing by bringing
personalized in store experience online on the websites. They have substituted their in store
personalized interaction with virtual appointments online through a video call between a sales
consultant and customer helping them to find the best product that could satisfy their needs.
Similarly, livestreaming is an another way to gain customer engagement and loyalty.

Technology

Efforts made by the retailers these days to gain customer engagement is inevitable and they are leaving
no stone unturned in turning this into reality.

When everything is getting virtual to ensure the safety of the people, retailers have developed models
to de- risk the virtual shopping experience of the customer. Whether it is apparel, jewellery or any other
fashion item, the major concern of the customer while shopping online has been the inability to see how
that particular item will look on them.

But because of technological advancements, virtual trial rooms are made available to the customer as
retail brand’s have launched a new Virtual try on Platform, which uses augmented reality (AR),
machine learning, and computer vision techniques. Not only virtual try on, but now retailers can upload
3-D images of the product on the website, giving a clear picture of the product.

E-commerce, online shopping gets a boost

Hygiene, safety and proper sanitization of stores and clothes is another thing that
no one is ready to compromise upon and this has become a major issue amongst
people for not visiting the store. Going online and putting up a store virtually by
making goods and services available for the customer at the comfort of their
home, is something preferred by a major section of the society. With retail stores
and e-commerce sites bringing on live screen trials to prevent physical touch of
the product, it is becoming more convenient.
Delivery mechanism

Pandemic has made retailers to go online and launch a delivery service. The graph which was on 22%
being a symbol of people preferring online deliveries have doubled itself after the crisis and is still
increasing. Even there are many retailers who have launched and developed a delivery service platform
when the pandemic started. For example : future group's BIGBAZAAR
And now the retailers are not only working on to make goods available to the customers at their door
step but is also working on channelling the importance of safe delivery modes and accelerate pickup and
delivery. For this they are trying to seek support from third party delivery services.

Transformed store operations

In covid times, the priorities of the customers have shifted from traditional stores operations to social
distancing and preferring self- service altering all the traditional formulas of customer experience.

Retailers have implemented all the covid safety norms in the stores insuring safe distances, sanitize
surfaces and products etc

Population trend

Aging population

As the growing percentage of the population of India, we have huge percentage of population growing
older as now a days people have few children. Meeting the needs of this part of the population who
focuses on value that every penny spent by them can give. They spent their income more on essential
items like food, beverages, medicines and books and focus more on quality goods

This segment of the population focuses more on convenient stores than malls. Click and collect services,
home delivery, pick up from store are options which seems much desirable to them

Changing household dynamics

Early marriages are something that is not the prime focus of household these days. Household
compositions and roles played by each member have changed as women have become financial
contributors to household incomes.

Convenience shopping is desirable these days as women and men both have their own money but no
time to shop. They are preferring e- services offered by various retailers. These days retailers are
working on becoming a one stop shop for customers providing best of experiences. For example : IKEA
offers free child supervision while parents shop

Green awareness competition

With emerging awareness and continuous efforts by individual organisations and the government, the
present generation have become conscious about what products they are using, what they are made up
of and what impact will they leave on the environment

Social changes

Festive season

The pandemic crisis has not only destroyed businesses and operations but have also made a significant
change in consumer sentiments.

There is drastic change in the lifestyles of the people, earlier festivals used to be of huge importance for
the customer as well as the retailers, people used to wait for the festive season with prior preparations.
Brands on one side use maintain their SKUs from festive collection with all the offers, store decorations
to mark the biggest sales turnover of the year where on the other hand markets used to be flooded with
people purchasing new clothes, holy stuff, sweets etc. Earlier huge public gatherings use to take place,
people use to throw get together parties. Now the people are sceptical of even getting out of their
houses.

Since safety and hygiene have become a new norm in the new normal and the consumers are not ready
to compromise on that. Consumers are focusing on more value based commodities for their money as
many people have lost their jobs during the pandemic or have struggled with their
salaries which have eventually made them shift towards essential commodities over
fashion and other.

Holiday shopping season

Globally, the crisis have widened the shift in consumer behaviour and there is a change of 60% in their
shopping preferences. 40% of the consumers have tried new brands during the pandemic.

Customers have become price sensitive and expect value, convenience and availability.

Economic

Domestic economy is unstable.

GDP annual rate got down to 2.2% in March,2020

For April to June,2020 there was a drop 21% which was worst than post war period

Diffusion index was 25.2 for 8 consecutive months with deflation in prices of the commodity till 2021
and huge impact on restaurants and travel

Political

Request from the Government to industry associations for

business continuity plans,

securing stable supplies of food and daily necessities

Building a close communication structure

Preventing the spread of infection by thorough efforts