Dear reader
We shall overcome
I want to begin with the title of a song written by Peter Seeger, American folk singer and social activist. The song was used during the civil rights movement by African Americans and their supporters to show that they intended to overcome prejudice and segregation.
Yes, we shall overcome the disruption caused by an unknown intruder in our life that has caused unimaginable havoc all around the globe.
When we were preparing for the April edition, our central theme was leisure and entertainment. Since March was a month dedicated to women – International Women’ Day and Mother’s Day – we zeroed on women in retail for most of our regular features.
However, we had no clue that something called COVID-19 would upstage everything. Leisure & entertainment was among its first casualties forced to shut shops. These are trying times for all businesses but especially challenging on those in the retail sector as the present pandemic is something that the world has not dealt with in a century. Also, back then retail was not what it is today.
Retailers are struggling with mandated shutdowns, authorities urging shoppers not to flock anywhere, much less a mall or retail brick-andmortar store, for both customer and employee safety reasons and a very disrupted supply chain. The retail industry has not faced anything of the sort for a very long time, even compared to the 2008 financial crisis.
While we’ve experienced recessions and other economic downturns that have slowed business, this is the first crisis impacting businesses across the world, highlighting the need to be prepared for anything.
Shutting of physical stores in these circumstances highlights the need for a strong online presence to keep people engaged with brands and products during such times. Also, when physical locations reopen, it will be critically important to reengage people. This re-engagement plan will help the best retailers recover more quickly and help consolidate their loyal customer base.
As a print media organisation, we too are equally impacted like our retail partners. In line with the National Media Council’s directives on the public distribution of publications, we are limiting our print copies this month. The digital version of the magazine will be freely available.
Once again, I would like to conclude by slightly modifying these lines from the song: “Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome,” the present crisis very soon.