‘After its most defining year ever, retail will emerge stronger in 2021’

The answer I eventually mustered was: “Defining”.

It’s a word that might have gotten lost in the tales of job losses, of store closures, of administrations – tales that, unfortunately, have been aplenty during the past 12 months. 

But a defining year is exactly what 2020 has been for this sector in so many different ways – ways that should give retailers hope and optimism as we head into 2021. 

“Tales of individuals going above and beyond to help elderly, vulnerable or self-isolating customers shone a light on their true value and made us all feel proud to be a part of this industry”

It has been defining, first of all, for retail’s workforce. Shopfloor teams, warehouse staff and delivery drivers were hailed by the government as key workers during the first national lockdown in the spring as essential retailers stayed open and kept our nation going.

Tales of individuals going above and beyond to help elderly, vulnerable or self-isolating customers shone a light on their true value and made us all feel proud to be a part of this industry. 

Retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Aldi responded by paying increased bonuses to store staff for their incredible efforts, while the cream of the crop have been nominated as frontline heroes in next year’s Retail Week Awards. In June, we will be able to celebrate their efforts in the manner that they all deserve.

It’s been a defining year for company cultures. Businesses like the Co-op that have focused on putting people before profit, helping communities and championing sustainability have won larger shares of the consumer wallet. 

“The culture of decision-making has also changed, with ideas often being generated on the shop floor and being fed up the chain to the c-suite, flipping the usual hierarchy on its head”

Retailers have been more open to partnering with third parties to build new revenue streams – just look at Aldi selling through Deliveroo, or AO opening physical stores inside Tesco supermarkets. 

And the culture of decision-making has also changed, with ideas often being generated on the shopfloor and being fed up the chain to the c-suite, flipping the usual hierarchy on its head and allowing retailers to stay closer to their customers by adopting a ‘bottom-up’ approach.

Chief executives have been humbled by the rapid response of their store teams coming up with new ways of working, implementing Covid-secure operations and rolling out new initiatives in days and weeks, rather than months.

B&Q, for instance, transformed warehouse space at the back of its stores into ‘digital hubs’ within weeks, allowing it to offer speedy deliveries from almost 60 of its largest stores.

It’s been a defining year for the ways that central teams are now working, too. Marks & Spencer is among the businesses to recognise that the landscape has changed forever under its ‘Never the same Again’ strategy – a plan designed to leverage lessons from the Covid-19 crisis to create “a faster, more efficient and more digitally focused business”. 

It has also created MS2, a division that creates “a single integrated online, digital and data team” for the first time. Boss Steve Rowe says “it flips the model” when it comes to how M&S thinks and acts, and plenty of other retailers are adapting head-office operations in similar ways. 

And, of course, it’s been a defining year for the ways in which consumers are shopping and the impact that has had on our physical retail destinations.

Lockdowns opened up the idea of online shopping to tens of thousands of people for the first time, many of whom are unlikely to revert back to their old habits even after this crisis passes.

This, combined with other factors such as a growing appetite to shop locally and help smaller, independent stores, has hit more traditional businesses hard.  

Debenhams and Arcadia are the latest high-profile casualties of such trends and, unfortunately, more are likely to follow in the usual post-Christmas shake-out. 

“If there is one thing we can all rely on retail for, it is an innate ability to reinvent and evolve. There are plenty of fast-growing businesses leading that charge”

But if there is one thing we can all rely on retail for, it is an innate ability to reinvent and evolve. It has been doing so for centuries and will do so again, even during the toughest of economic times. 

There are plenty of exciting, fast-growing businesses leading that charge. 

For every Arcadia, there’s a Gymshark. For every Debenhams, there’s a Hut Group. For every Edinburgh Woollen Mill, there’s an In The Style. For every Intu, there’s a Boxpark.  

Yes, it’s been a bruising year for many UK retailers – one that has exposed strengths and weaknesses, forced them to take stock of strategies and widened the chasm between the sector’s digital laggards and leaders.

Yet, as the calendar turns into a new year, many will also be galvanised by the experiences of the past 12 months and head into 2021 with renewed hope, optimism and vigour.

The likes of M&S, Tesco and B&Q recognise just how defining a year 2020 has been for their businesses. They realise that, despite the ups, downs and difficult decisions they have had to take along the way, there is plenty they can bottle up and take with them into 2021 and beyond. 

More challenges and greater uncertainty lie ahead, of course – we haven’t even mentioned the dreaded ‘B’ word.

But in the eye of the most relentless storm this year, retail has proved, once again, that it can learn lessons, adapt and transform at the most incredible pace.

As we near the end of the most defining of years, I am more certain than ever that retail will emerge even stronger in 2021.