Retail is already being reshaped by Covid-19 as shoppers are stuck at home and companies are forced to find new ways to sell their goods and stay relevant. Even as states begin lifting restrictions, it isn’t clear when and how consumers will be ready to shop. Longtime retail analyst Dana Telsey, who heads up Telsey Advisory Group, says executives are comparing the crisis to wartime, and trying to reinvent themselves for a rapidly changing new normal.
Telsey, one of Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance, had a long history as a retail analyst and money manager before starting her own business. The New Yorker has seen retail go through various iterations, not just in her career but also growing up: Her family owned a bookstore on Madison Avenue and her mother and grandmother both worked in retail. We talked with Telsey to see what retailers need to do in a postpandemic world, which companies can make the transition, and whether it’s time to start shopping. An edited and condensed version of our conversation follows. Barron’s: What is the mood among retail executives? Dana Telsey: Even the strongest of the strong companies are saying there is no road map—and [things] can change by the hour. They are watching their cash, evaluating their cost structure, and looking at store bases. When you think about fixed and variable costs, almost everything has become variable.
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