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foreseeable future we may continue to have ongoing waves of cases, which for retailers will create demand surges that need to be managed. These peaks and troughs in sales will make it hard to forecast from a supply chain point of view. Not only will this impact product sourcing, but the knock-on effects will be felt in other areas, including not having the appropriate packaging available to suit changing consumption trends. For example, people have gone from on-the-go snacking to buying family packs during lockdown. This discontinuous nature will add cost to the supply chain as brands look to expedite processes to deliver products in response to customer demand. Physical experiential retail will be scaled down as there is such uncertainty about the feasibility of activating with constantly changing guidelines. However, we’ve seen a very quick adoption of online experiential, particularly virtual brand ambassadors to engage with consumers and retailer staff. Retailers and brands will still require a lot of in-store support in merchandising, on-shelf availability and replenishment to ensure they capture buyers in-store. From an economic standpoint, Australians typically spend $64 billion a year travelling abroad, so it will be interesting to see how much of that gets funnelled into retail therapy instead. The dreaded economic ‘cliff’ \[previously expected\] at the end of September will be all dependent on continued government support and will set the tone for Christmas, which could see a very slow start as consumers hold out for promotions. People can be easily influenced by the perceived behaviours of others; I wonder if people are now buying to the retailer-imposed limits, rather than their needs. If a shopper normally buys one pack of something and there’s a sign saying no more than two, there may be a subconscious compulsion to believe others know something you don’t and tempt you to buy more just in case. A few years ago, supermarkets were simplifying ranges with fewer choices and more stock but then we started clustering and tailored ranging was introduced. Those smaller ranges struggled to scale up for demand, so we may see retailers trying to find a balance between the two approaches. Seasonal sales where limited-release products are promoted ahead of special events such as the footy finals, Halloween and Christmas may suffer as there may not be any ‘premiumisation’ if we’re in a lockdown. Therefore, sales for premium brands and goods that people tend to buy for special occasions and events may suffer if households are happy to go without. Crossmark’s greatest lesson to date while navigating through the pandemic and how the organisation has stepped in to help retailers. For a business focused on people, the pandemic reinforced the importance of communication – you can’t talk enough to your team during a time like this. At Crossmark, we’re looking after people by sending out regular care packs and personal protective equipment including masks, hand sanitiser and gloves, which goes a long way in providing peace of mind and showing you care. As a business built around flexibility, we’ve been able to comfortably adapt to meet the massive changes that are being experienced today. It was important for us to engage with our clients to understand their challenges and how we can best support them, especially as we were entering a new environment. Different partners had different problems in different parts of their business. Crossmark’s technology and systems are set up to meet any retail needs, which meant we had no negative impact to our service levels and we’re still hitting the high 90s in service KPIs. We’ve been working closely with retailers and brands to continue supporting stores, particularly when it comes to maintaining on- shelf availability for communities to continue accessing what they need. Our diverse revenue streams, channels and services navigated us through any market interruptions as well as helped accelerate our ecommerce and online services, such as virtual brand ambassadors. INDUSTRY INSIGHT AUG, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 31