We’ve all learned a lot in the last 12 months. Personally and in our business lives. We’ve all learned to “pivot” (the designated word of the pandemic), and we’ve heard time and again “you’re on mute.” Both defined the new world we found ourselves in, assuming we were fortunate enough to have a job, could work from home and remained healthy.

Wendy Liebmann

Our companies deserve the credit for adapting supply chains; manufacturing much-needed products; setting up new safer shopping services; and creating new, more supportive virtual work environments that were all but forbidden in many companies.

One year later, we can credit ourselves for surviving, learning fast, juggling and, now, anticipating moving on. However, the question arises, “How to move on?” We’ve heard from several clients who recently asked what will stick and what will go away as America and the world is vaccinated. What will shoppers want?

We know the answer, because throughout the pandemic we ramped up the scale and frequency of our national How America Shops surveys: From April, June, August and November of 2020 to March 2021 we interviewed thousands of shoppers. We and our retail scouts also spent time traveling across the U.S. and around the world — yes, really — to see how retailers were adapting and innovating. (It has been stunning to see the level of innovation that occurred over the last 12 months — way beyond safety screens, floor signs and masks.) As the world opens up, we understand intimately, category by category, retailer by retailer (digital and physical) how shoppers came into the pandemic, and what they want now.

It comes down to this, in order to win with shoppers in the post-pandemic world you must rethink the role of the physical store — every inch of it — and how you deliver products and services.

Even before COVID-19, shoppers had shifted their attitudes and behaviors toward shopping. Six out of 10 told us as far back as 2016 that they wanted to get their everyday shopping done fast so they had time for other things. Even before COVID-19, the stock-up trip, the quick trip, the spontaneous “I’ll buy it wherever I am” trip had already changed how often people went to their local store (be it pharmacy, grocery or big box).

Digital shopping was already part of the everyday vernacular for many. It merely took a global pandemic to get most of America (and the world) to shop with a click. That will not change. It may not be highly emotional or exciting shopping, but it is easier. People have discovered they don’t need to walk down aisle after aisle to buy paper products or cleaning items or water or beverages or dog food or diapers (please fill in the blanks). It’s not necessary and not an efficient use of time, or life.

As shoppers emerge from this pandemic, having a meaningful life is a guiding principle for how they will spend their time and money. Shoppers have learned what’s important — from safety and security (health and financial), to a new sense of consumerism (buying local, sustainable, supporting companies that advocate equality), and to wanting an overall sense of well-being (physical and mental).

Many of these were already part of Americans’ emerging values before the pandemic — especially so for Millennials and Gen Z. Today, there is even more justification and validation for a meaningful life.

What does all this mean for the store? It’s not that every store on every corner will go away. They serve (or at least can serve) a purpose for many. But not the way they present themselves today. If shoppers make the effort to show up physically they expect a store to be easier, faster (if they need it), slower (if they are inspired), more solution-based, with more relevant, innovative, personalized products and services that they can’t get on a click. Not row upon row, aisle upon aisle of the same things they can get everywhere, anywhere.

One of the retailers we admire, Mecca Cosmetica, in Australia, opened a new flagship store in Sydney during the pandemic. Four floors of beauty products, 200 support people, and services that include everything from beauty bars to a hair salon, skin lab, a dermatologist, a naturopath, body piercing services, wellness advisors and, coming soon, fertility experts. “200 points of innovation,” according to Jo Horgan, founder and managing director, who shared the details with us for our latest Retail Safari. Yes, I understand, this is a 20,000-square-foot store. But every retailer — and, for that matter, manufacturer — should consider how many points of innovation they must now build into the new retail environment.

It’s not all about digitizing the store. Yes, sometimes that’s essential, even relevant. But throwing an iPad at something is not always the solution. It is about discovery. Something many shoppers did during the pandemic. They tried new products and services — sometimes because they had to when they couldn’t find what they usually bought or how they usually bought it. Sometimes it was because they had more time, while locked down, to investigate and experiment. Whatever the reason, as we move on, the majority of shoppers who tried new brands during the pandemic tell us they will stick with them — regardless of category. Many will also stick with new technologies that informed them efficiently (e.g., digital health services) and many shopping services that, yes, saved them time (click-and-collect, scan-and-go, subscriptions).

The role of the physical store has now shifted. It is now just one part of a multi-touchpoint, omnichannel journey that shoppers expect, demand. It is no longer the primary place to shop in this new world. However, it can be a relevant, practical, personalized — and yes, inspirational — place to shop.

In the end, shoppers have told us that their lives now are framed by two critical factors: being safe and secure and appreciating what they have. Shopping the way they used to is no longer assured, unless you have developed your own “200 points of innovation” that are relevant to those whose goal is a more meaningful life.

Wendy Liebmann is chief executive officer and chief shopper of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based global consultancy specializing in retail strategy and shopper insights. She can be contacted at [email protected].