With the new Covid variant causing concerns and impacting consumer confidence, retailers must be forward thinking in their strategies for the new year to mitigate major revenue hits. Prioritising customer experience is key. This means ensuring customers are able to purchase items seamlessly, and via whichever channel they choose. But it also means making themselves available to their customers as much as possible – whether that’s direct to consumer or across third party platforms. We’re already seeing this manifest in the form of new online marketplaces being launched by retailers.

With an uncertain period ahead and the potential for new restrictions, smart retailers will be those that are thinking about how they can make themselves present everywhere and how they can tailor each aspect of the shopping journey to consumers’ unique needs.