For many industries, predicting the future during a pandemic would be difficult – if not impossible. Retail is different. Why? Because COVID-19 has acted as an accelerant for digital transformation – fuelling and amplifying trends that have been creeping in for years. You could even call this “Covid acceleration.” McKinsey recently determined that, over a 10-week period in 2020, digital business penetration had increased by the same amount as in the previous 10 years. So, considering this supercharged digital trend, here are three predictions for retail in the coming year: 1. Automation everywhere The COVID-19 crisis took almost every business by surprise, decimating many which were not prepared for a move to online sales. It has prompted many operational changes that create efficien...