Whitepaper: Retail in a post-pandemic world

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on people and businesses worldwide, triggering an explosion in online activity (and knock-on effects on stores and other channels) whilst shocking supply chains into rapid and significant adaptation.

Thankfully, the arrival of vaccines heralds the possibility of a return to the more stable, freer life we enjoyed before the crisis, but there are many things that have now changed forever.

DLA Piper has partnered with GlobalData to produce this paper and we will look at how dramatically the world has altered and how consumer businesses have stepped up to meet these challenges, flexing online and other channels and overcoming supply chain obstacles, while also considering what this could mean for the future of retail and consumer-focused businesses.

As part of this paper, DLA Piper and GlobalData interviewed four companies (Levi Strauss & Co., Heineken, an online pureplay company and an alcohol brand) about their experiences during the pandemic. Selected quotes from these case studies are included throughout this paper.

DLA Piper also partnered with GlobalData plc to host a webinar on the findings of the report. The presentation was led by Noel Haywood, Global Co-Chair of DLA Piper's Consumer Goods, Food & Retail sector and experts from GlobalData plc, Maureen Hinton, Group Retail Research Director and Joseph Robinson, Director of Consulting – Retail.