As South Africa returns to semi-normal after our nationwide lockdown, many businesses are returning to work with new conditions in the workplace. From social distancing to hand sanitising to working remotely, there are workarounds for many office environments to continue operations semi-normally. But perhaps the sector that will struggle the most with returning to normality is retail. Just some of the reasons for this are:
<ul>
 	<li>The increased move to shopping online, leaving physical retail stores with fewer customers than before</li>
 	<li>Stringent regulations about how many people are allowed into premises at once - thereby removing the "busy shop" scenario and in effect discouraging&nbsp; crowds of people entering a retailer's premises</li>
 	<li>The economic fallout from the Covid-19 lockdown situation, causing many more people to have much less disposable income, which is especially challenging for physical retailers in the non-essential or luxury space</li>
 	<li>The increased expense and difficulties involved with sourcing raw materials and products from suppliers, particularly those abroad given the fewer options and therefore increased costs of shipping goods in and out of South Africa</li>
</ul>
Given this scenario, the natural reaction for retailers may be to abandon their physical stores altogether in favour of an online only retail environment. But is this the right move? It can be, but not always. In an article by Anthony Sharpe in the May edition of <a href="https://online.anyflip.com/enio/tctz/mobile/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Business Day Commercial Property magazine (opens in a new tab)">Business Day Commercial Property magazine</a> entitled "Retail in the time of coronavirus", Retail Prophet's Dough Stephens makes a case that the physical store still has its place as a form of media for brands. "It's a physical, immersive, powerful, community-based form of media that brands can use to bring consumers into their ecosystem," he says.

With this perspective, retailers may need to think more strategically about how they position themselves when it comes to having a physical store. Perhaps this means pivoting to providing a more curated shopping experience, where customers are drawn to the store for the tactile experience of immersing themselves into the brand (as opposed to browsing your products online).

Retailers could also look for a "blended" omnichannel solution, where they have both an online and a physical store. This could then allow for smaller retail spaces that contain a smaller selection of products in the physical store. The effect of this is then a smaller rental and staff bill, which means lower operational costs.

As part of this solution, Stephens outlines an alternative for brands to consider partnering with specialised online retailers instead of developing an online solution themselves. If you're a retailer, this can be a good idea if you don't have the experience or skills needed to move to the online space. For example, if you're a clothes retailer, you may decide to partner with a company like Takealot or Superbalist who can house your product on their e-commerce site, without taking on the risk and costs of doing so yourself.

Whichever direction you decide to take as a retailer, the only thing we can be certain of is that the commercial landscape in South Africa - and globally - has changed for the foreseeable future.  Those retailers who survive will surely be the ones who are able to best adapt with these new times.

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