Crises change markets.

In 2008, Aldi, the German-based discount supermarket, had a 1.6% share of the UK grocery market. Then the financial crash happened. As a result, shoppers looked for value and found it in spades at Aldi. The retailer hasn’t looked back and has generated double-digit annual growth, delivering UK sales of £11 billion and 8% market share in 2019.

Alongside Aldi, other discounters have also thrived since 2008, including Lidl, Primark, Poundland and B&M Bargains, while traditional retailers such as M&S, Morrisons, Boots and Debenhams have, at best, flatlined.

The coronavirus crisis will also change markets. Alongside a deep recession, analysts are already identifying an accelerated shift to online shopping and a likely increase in interest in healthy living.

I say this not to frighten anyone, but to urge you to start considering more radical futures for your business. Once the lockdown ends, you will not return to the world as it was before. Your customers will have different needs and priorities. This will create new issues and challenges for your organisation, but also new opportunities.

I’m in the process of starting a new project with a client, developing a series of possible future scenarios for the business and using them to identify new strategic priorities. You can see the broad approach we’re taking in the ‘white paper’ I’ve linked below.

If you want to get ahead of the next stage of the coronavirus crisis, you should start to think about your post-pandemic future now. What steps are you taking to understand how your customers and markets will change in the post-COVID world and what that might mean for your business and its priorities?

Off The Record: Do You Know Where You’re Going To? (Theme from Mahogony) by Diana Ross (written by Masser and Goffin)

Do you know

Where you’re going to?

Do you like the things

That life is showing you?

Where are you going to?

Do you know?

Succeeding Beyond The Coronavirus Pandemic

If you want to succeed in the post-COVID world you need to plan and act fast now to reshape your business to your new realities and opportunities. This white paper sets out the new business realities arising from the coronavirus pandemic and gives you a clear, 5-step process to reshape your strategy and accelerate your success as we come out of the crisis.

© Stuart Cross 2020. All rights reserved.