During this pandemic, retailers of all sizes and segments have been forced to seek digital alternatives to maintain sales. Was this your case?
Many traders were caught off guard. For many of them, the digitalization of their businesses was not a short- or medium-term plan, but social isolation measures imposed this new reality.
One of the sectors most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, retail is going through a phase of reinvention.
What new reality are we talking about? What reinvention is this?
Let's learn about the importance of multichannel retail below. Find out why the trend in 2021 is to be multichannel.
Importance of integrating physical and digital channels
The pandemic led to the closure of physical stores: 135 thousand stores closed in the country in the 2nd quarter of 2020.
All units of the Federation recorded a reduction in the belgium whatsapp data number of points of sale. The data is from the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC).
Coincidentally or not, the retail of computer and communication products was the segment that recorded the smallest absolute (-1.2 thousand) and relative (-3.6%) losses in the number of establishments in operation.
With the closure of stores, digital sales have gained strength in relation to physical sales, which shows that commerce is taking its first steps towards the future.
In an interview with Gazeta do Povo, the director of the Fecomércio System of Paraná, Rodrigo Rosalem, said that retail is in a process of transformation that already goes far beyond digital.
According to the expert, it wasn't just sales that were most impacted. The format of stores also tends to change.
Independent commerce, based on the experience of the customer seeing a window display, becoming interested in a product, entering the store and buying, has changed. Now, in order to sell, the retailer understands that he needs to be where the consumer is.
Rodrigo points out that, with smaller inventories and greater digitalization of sales and services, businesses are also reconfiguring themselves, driving other changes.
In a scenario of increasingly demanding customers, multichannel retail is one of the changes that is here to stay.
The director of the Fecomércio System says that, with the essence of retail having remained the same, what changes is the pace: logistics will need to be more agile.
Data processing will need to be more dynamic and infrastructure will need to be improved. Investment in innovation has become the rule.