{"id":43275,"date":"2020-08-21T17:06:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T17:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"\/us\/en\/blog\/?p=43275"},"modified":"2025-07-02T08:40:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:40:44","slug":"current-state-of-retail-and-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/current-state-of-retail-and-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Current state of retail and the impact of COVID-19 on the industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When COVID-19 struck, the retail industry suffered a crushing blow. Stores sent employees home, consumers squeezed spending, and the needs of a new retail landscape completely upended business as usual.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RingCentral hosted a North American Retail Roundtable where participants shared ideas on the state of the industry following COVID-19. Here are some of the major takeaways from the session:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading h2\"><b>Current challenges in retail<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"heading h3\"><b>Challenge 1: Key retail operational pivots<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pandemic has had a dynamic effect, with some retailers experiencing spikes in both online and in-store revenue while others\u2014with more experiential value propositions\u2014significant decreases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we shift to the next phases of reopening, retailers are taking a fresh look at journey mapping\u2014weekly, in most cases\u2014to ensure they can meet the continually new expectations of shoppers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"heading h3\"><b>Retail trends that continued through the pandemic<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the pandemic has affected many aspects of retail, there was consensus that pre-pandemic retail imperatives persist. Retailers should continue to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Move towards frictionless retail across online and in-store experiences<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Build scalable infrastructure to deliver customer-centricity and surface data to make better decisions amidst fast market changes<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Accelerate cultures of innovation to become more responsive to customer needs\u2014even amidst the pandemic, don\u2019t cease to innovate!<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shift the retail associate role. Store associates are really product experts who are best served to discuss product lines. They can, in essence, become call center associates with the use of UCaaS\u2014alternately allowing call center agents to then become social media agents through the use of digital queueing.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key trends include a movement towards retail stores as fulfillment centers, delivering next-generation mobile experiences, and evaluating supply chains for optimization and resilience.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, the curbside experience\u2014implemented in response to COVID-19\u2014turned out quite costly in some cases. In these instances, businesses need to rethink their curbside offering to turn a profit.<\/span><\/h4>\n<h3 class=\"heading h3\"><b>Challenge 2: adapting to remote work<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For some retailers, store support staff aren\u2019t able nor interested in returning to the office until the pandemic is over. As a result, retailers are learning to support a work-from-home retail culture. From implementing the right technologies to fostering strong relationships amongst remote employees, supporting work from home can be challenging when so many had never experienced this before.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For those interested in learning more, RingCentral has created resources designed to help support this \u201cever-evolving remote work,\u201d including a dedicated site that makes it easy for anyone to Work from Home productively as well as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/support.ringcentral.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Work From Home for RingCentral Users<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> guidance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/remote-work-playbook.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Download The Remote Work Playbook<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading h3 h2\"><b>Responding to COVID-19<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"heading h3\"><b>Agreement on pre-existing issues<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was consensus that the onset of the pandemic exposed operational issues across all aspects of the value chain. Most attendees had shared experience with a lack of visibility into the supply chain, inventory in transit, and fulfillment challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some also found that lack of redundancies created challenges when offshore contact center employees were subject to regional lockdown and there were no trained resources to pick up the inquiries. Many just could not get the right information to their customers about when and how they were open or planning on reopening.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"heading h3\"><b>Best practices for braving the pandemic<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Insights and lessons learned shared by participants indicated retailers should consider the following as they operate amidst the pandemic:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify alternative methods of fulfillment\u2014whether curbside, delivery from store, or ecommerce<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seek mechanisms to drive customer engagement in a contactless manner (e.g., mobile, virtual\/augmented reality)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evaluate supply chains, both inbound and outbound, to ensure resilience<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drive employee engagement supported by communication and collaboration tools<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Accelerate next-generation IT investments and security upgrades<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3 class=\"heading h3\"><b>Moving forward: Invest in future success<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the pandemic has been a challenge for all retailers in one form or another, all viewed it as a temporary state and that rather than retract, most are using the moment to move forward with investments so they come out on the other side in a stronger position than when the pandemic started.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading h2\"><b>Shopping modes: if indoors is out, now what?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those retailers that did not already have BOPIS or e-commerce within their business model (e.g., food service, experiential and premium retail) chose not to implement curbside but have nevertheless changed courses to accommodate new modes of shopping. One has instituted appointment booking for stores that are now open to cut down on long lines outside stores and promote social distancing, while another has accelerated their e-commerce roll-out plans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those that had rolled-out curbside and BOPIS used the opportunity to retune their operations. A common challenge with curbside was customer communication about the process and clear communication on when the order is available for pickup so they don\u2019t show up too early.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unified communications and customer engagement solutions were discussed as mechanisms to streamline and consistently execute curbside, BOPIS, and e-commerce communications.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading h2\"><b>Cloud computing benefits retailers<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was consensus that cloud computing solutions created advantages during the pandemic by:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enabling employees to work from home<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facilitating the administration and management of mission-critical operations<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One attendee shared how they were easily able to pivot and serve customers via a softphone on their computer from home instead of via handset in the office environment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another shared how the remote admin function allowed them to quickly update the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/contact-center\/interactive-voice-response.html\">IVR<\/a> as they pivoted their operational model.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As retailers chart their course forward, it is clear that cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions should be prioritized as key components of a retailer&#8217;s overall business strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For insights into where consumers and retail associates say there are large communications gaps between the store and the shopper, and what retailers can do to keep customers as well as build and sustain long-term loyalty, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/shopper-employee-communications-research-report.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">download the new RingCentral Research Retail 2020 Connected Shopper and Employee Communications Report now<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When COVID-19 struck, the retail industry suffered a crushing blow. Stores sent employees home, consumers squeezed spending, and the needs of a new retail landscape completely upended business as usual. RingCentral hosted a North American Retail Roundtable where participants shared ideas on the state of the industry following COVID-19. Here are some of the major &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":43288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18670],"tags":[5105,18663],"class_list":["post-43275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retail","tag-retail","tag-ringcentral-vertical"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.3 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Current state of retail and the impact of COVID-19 on the industry | RingCentral Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When COVID-19 struck, the retail industry suffered a crushing blow. 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