Mark Pilkington: Retail Recovery. How Creative Retailers Are Winning in their Post-Apocalyptic World

The world's retail sector has been devastated in recent years by two unstoppable forces: internet shopping and the Covid-19 lockdown. The result: huge numbers of prestigious brands have gone under, or are now a shadow of their former selves, and large parts of the world economy have fallen into a recession, with reduced employment and incomes across large parts of society. High streets and shopping malls lie half-empty, causing a vacuum at the heart of our communities and societies, and many discretionary products have simply become too expensive for people to buy on a regular basis. There is now an urgent need to regenerate our local shopping areas, so how can retailers and brands respond to this crisis? Fortunately, new shoots of recovery are emerging from the wreckage of the old order – new brands, new ways of providing value, and new and innovative methods of creating interest to draw in consumers, all of which have the potential to kick-start the retail economy. Retail Recovery offers a comprehensive analysis of these new forces that are changing the way in which we browse for and buy products, and how we experience and engage with the brands themselves. It includes in-depth interviews with some of the most innovative players in the UK, Europe and North America, in the hope of drawing out key learning points for the rest of the industry. It also provides essential guidelines for governments, as they strive to rebuild and reinforce the retail spaces within our communities, allowing them to create a more effective economic lifeline for retailers, shoppers, retail workers, manufacturers and distributors.