The Future of Retail Professor Omera Khan April 2021 The Future of Retail / Skill Dynamics Challenged, but not broken Is traditional retail broken? Many people think so, pointing to shuttered The Future of Retail shops, town centres bereft of shoppers, and deserted malls. The By Prof. Dr. Omera Khan, Covid-19 pandemic, they argue, merely accelerated a trend that was Executive Strategic Advisor at Skill Dynamics already underway, stretching back 20 years: the rise of e-commerce, exemplified by e-tailers such as Amazon, Zalando, AO World, Boohoo, This whitepaper is sponsored by: Zappos, and Asos. Skill Dynamics (HQ) 11 St. James Square Traditional retail is certainly challenged. There’s no mistaking that. London But there’s a world of difference between ‘challenged’ and ‘broken’. SW1Y 4LB E-commerce’s rise isn’t unstoppable, and nor is e-commerce without United Kingdom
[email protected] risk. While traditional retailing isn’t necessarily a comfortable place
[email protected] to be right now, neither is e-commerce retail, either: ask any online www.skilldynamics.com retailer competing with Amazon. The paper you’re reading discusses the various issues and challenges Credits faced by retailers in both the physical and online worlds, talking to Editor: Prof. Dr. Omera Khan leading experts for insights and industry perspectives. Better still, it Copywriter: Dr. Malcolm Wheatley highlights specific and actionable strategies enabling each to compete Copyright © Skill Dynamics more effectively. Finally, it points to the skills likely to be necessary in ISBN 978-1-8382452-2-1 order to compete in this brave new retail world.