Retailers have had a slew of challenges these past years, including price wars, e-commerce penetration, declining customer traffic and sales, and increasing rents. This has led to many prestigious department stores close their doors (Barneys New York being one of them). The recent breakout of COVID-19 is making all of these challenges more problematic than ever, not to mention an immediate supply chain challenge.
To deal with this, retailers need to:
- proactively monitor their inventory
- be creative and find ways to shift their sourcing to domestic markets rather than importing from overseas. The biggest manufacturers in China and India are already affected by the virus.
- make purchases carefully. Short-term purchases are recommended. As the stock market has swayed, people are holding cash rather than shopping or investing out of fear.
It is our hope at Sibo that, after action is taken by leaders and governments around the world, savvy citizens will recover their confidence in buying - and buying looks that are personalized best to them.