Retail Concepts Post-Pandemic

The initial reports of the pandemic from «distant» China earlier this year triggered memories of SARS and MERS but no serious concerns. Those epidemics seemed too far removed from our everyday lives. A few months later, the situation looks very different. The pandemic has become part of our daily reality and is likely to leave a lasting mark, even on the youngest members of my family – my nine-year-old son included.

Impacts on retail concepts

With concerns come questions. How do we move forward? How will the global economy develop? How will we greet each other two years from now? Naturally, I’m also pondering questions relevant to our work: What impact will the pandemic have on retail concepts? On hospitality design? On exhibition stand layouts? While definitive answers remain elusive, I have sketched out some possible scenarios and formulated theses that I’d like to share with you:

• Increased Mobility in Shop Design: Mobility will gain importance in retail architecture, allowing retail and display areas to be adjusted quickly. This will include modular lighting systems. Interior concepts will follow this trend, moving towards pop-up stores – though these remain more temporary and budget-oriented by nature.
• Investment in E-Commerce by SMEs: Small and medium-sized retailers will invest in online commerce and create innovative e-commerce platforms. To compete with established online giants, unique selling points from in-store experiences and staff interactions will be transferred to the digital space. Virtual shopping experiences will emerge, encouraging potential customers to explore digital stores while enticing them to visit physical locations.
• Virtual Pop-Up Stores: Virtual pop-up stores will become a testing ground for retail concepts, allowing businesses to gauge their attractiveness before taking on the financial risks of opening a physical shop.
• Hybrid Concepts for Resilience: Hybrid concepts that combine gastronomy, retail, and services from similar fields will strengthen economic resilience. These allow businesses to partially maintain operations even under governmental restrictions.
• Adaptable Gastronomy: Restaurants will design kitchen facilities and processes to quickly pivot to takeaway and delivery services. Food trucks offering quick, healthy meals will appear in residential areas to support home-office workers.
• Demand for Antibacterial Coatings: There will be a growing demand for antibacterial surfaces, potentially becoming mandatory in sectors like healthcare and gastronomy.
• Cashless Payments as Standard: What has long been the norm in Sweden may become the new standard here: cashless transactions. Physical cash registers will become obsolete, with mobile payment solutions taking over – a change that will also bring new approaches to merchandise security.

Flexibility is key

Whether or not these theses materialise, crises always present opportunities. They demand that we critically assess conventional approaches and, where necessary, forge new paths. Creativity and agility will become indispensable soft skills for ensuring operational continuity. Only those who can develop and implement solutions quickly will succeed in overcoming the crisis – of that, I am convinced.