Until last year, 80% of U.S. retail was physical. Coronavirus has induced radical changes to consumer behavior, leading to make-or-break transformations for brick and mortar retailers driven by fear, social distancing, make-shift masks, closure of “non-essential” businesses and the need for financial security when more than 20 million people have lost their livelihoods. As Darwin observed, those who survive “are not the strongest or the most intelligent, but the most adaptable to change.”
The firms that will survive are not just those with the resources of large cash stockpiles, low debt and high margins but those with the vision to change the experience they deliver to customers. Some venture capitalists are even optimistic and believe that a new breed of adaptive start-ups will exit the crisis with robust, scalable businesses.
Webinar topics
In this webinar, we discuss:
- Which consumer purchasing behaviors will become permanent habits?
- Which retail categories will survive and which will thrive?
- How can companies blend digital and physical to reinvent the customer experience?
- How will retail tech venture capitalists change their investment strategies?
Speaker
David Martin
Principal, Retail
Orange Silicon Valley
Email: david1.martin@orange.com
Guest speaker
Vincent Diallo
Managing Partner
Interlace Ventures
To view this video content, you must accept YouTube cookies.
These cookies make it possible to share or react directly on the social networks to which you are connected or to integrate content initially posted on these social networks. They also allow social networks to use your visits to our sites and applications for personalization and targeting advertising.
The Next Normal series is produced by Orange Silicon Valley, the innovation division of the Orange Group that collaborates with startups, investors, entrepreneurs, and enterprises. Building on Orange’s 20+ years of immersion in Silicon Valley, the webinars will help executives at the Fortune 500 understand Silicon Valley’s impact on the global digital economy. We extend these webinars to Orange Business customers for complimentary thought leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. Orange Silicon Valley brings together corporations to access Silicon Valley innovation through the expertise, startup network and scalability of Orange Business through the xForce co-innovation program. Interested in learning more about xForce? Contact David Martin: david1.martin@orange.com.