5 BIG-BOX LESSONS FOR SMALL RETAILERS

FALL ONLINE: Use digital tech to turn your store into a local fulfillment center. “A vast majority of online orders are picked, prepped and packed at our stores,” says Target CEO Brian Cornell. “FedEx and UPS sweep by to deliver it the last mile.”

PICKUP ARTISTS: Takeout isn’t only for food anymore. “We had high demand but had to limit in-store traffic,” says Home Depot CEO Craig Menear. “We started curbside, which let us serve more customers without having them come into the building.”

NEED FOR SPEED: Outpace Amazon with same-day delivery. During the pandemic, Target has seen sales through Shipt, a startup it bought in 2017, jump 350%. “We have over 200,000 Shipt personal shoppers across America,” Cornell says. “They shop for you and bring the order right to your doorstep.”

CHOICE PRODUCT: Curate or create high-quality and trendy things to help people shop with speed and confidence. “Target has one of the top product teams in retail,” says Bernstein analyst Brandon Fletcher. “They have four brands that do around $1 billion in sales that they built from scratch.”

SAFETY FIRST: Put customers at ease by ensuring that everything is sparkling and sanitized. “Long before the CDC was talking about PPE, we were looking at suppliers,” says Donna Morris, Walmart’s Chief People Officer. “We needed masks. We needed gloves. We needed an operational protocol.”