Retail's Accelerated Reality
COVID-19 and 2020 changed retail, seemingly overnight. As we look toward a post-COVID-19 retail landscape, we see a future where merchandising and fulfillment are more co-dependent than ever. This new, accelerated reality is the focus of our new webinar, Retail Fast Forward, from WestRock VP of Retail Insights and Solutions, Leon Nicholas.
In Retail Fast Forward, Leon highlights the store as a center of both merchandising and fulfillment, as well as what retailers and CPG manufacturers need to be doing to grow in 2021 and the decade beyond.
As shoppers make fewer trips but fill bigger shopping carts, merchandising has a more significant role to play. Greater incorporation of digital technology and connected touchpoints will be critical to driving shopper engagement, and the store as a media platform will emerge as a major opportunity.
The store as a fulfillment center has powered most of this growth in e-commerce — buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), lockers, ship from store, and the coming revolution in automation and micro-fulfillment centers will all have implications for the role of the store. Layout, labor, and inventory will all drive the need for changes in packaging as fewer products are picked from shelves by consumers.
Retail Fast Forward Podcast Series
With retail stress-tested by COVID, a new convergence has arisen – the store as both a center of merchandising and fulfillment, both re-imagined. Retailers and manufacturers are going to need to excel at both.
In a series of podcasts, Leon Nicholas, Vice President, Retail Insights & Solutions at WestRock, explains these changes and offers actionable insights for retailers and CPG manufacturers to thrive in this dynamic environment.
About Leon Nicholas
With more than 25 years of experience analyzing retail trends, Leon Nicholas is a true expert in the retail industry. As WestRock’s Vice President of Retail Insights & Solutions, he is leading the way in advancing understanding of retail trends across a wide range of solutions.
Leon’s natural skills as a communicator make him one of the leading voices in the retail trade. He has been a contributor to CNBC, CNN Radio, Bloomberg, The Wall St. Journal, NPR, and Washington Post; a co-author in trade publications ranging from Drug Store News, MMR, and Progressive Grocer; and a panelist in industry forums, including NACDS, NRF and GlobalShop.
