Retail industry and Covid-19

Read the key messages from the study and download the PDF for all the insights.

• Retail trade takes place through two main channels: large organised distribution (GDO from its Italian initials) and sales in individual businesses (retail). The online sales channel is also strengthening in many areas.
• The world of retail sales is dominated by the big US groups. The top three retailers in terms of revenues are from the US. 1/3 of the top 250 companies are European.
• After very positive pre-pandemic market growth forecasts, now a worldwide contraction is estimated for 2020 in the retail sector of close to 10%.
• In Italy, the turnover related to the retail trade amounts to €542 billion with only a few large Italian groups.
• In the first quarter there was a reduction in retail trade on an annual basis of close to 20%.
• The Covid-19 shock, which occurred at a time when consumer trends were already evolving towards a strong segmentation of preferences and specificities of needs, could have changed consumer behaviour permanently, shifting the preference towards online shopping.
• To intercept these trends retail operators will have to redefine their value chain towards versatile distribution methods, a particular attention to the sustainability of the supply chain, new products for new needs, efficiency and flexibility in the configuration of spaces, the seizing of the opportunities offered by the new big data tools and advanced analytics to accurately analyse the specific needs of customers.