Leading retailer digital businesses have advanced five to 10 years with this structural shift. What’s more, the change isn’t transitory. More than 70% of U.S. consumers say that they’ve adopted new shopping behaviors during the pandemic and intend to stick with them long term, according to a survey. Through the forced reshaping of consumer behavior, the pandemic has enabled an irreversible convergence of physical and digital channels at scale. Significant uptake in options such as curbside pickup, buy online pickup in store and buy online ship to store have brought the channels together in a meaningful way.

Algorithms can accelerate digital transformation in retail, re-imagine every facet of the business, enhance customer experience, and unlock exponential value. Retailers who seamlessly orchestrate data and algorithms across the value chain, and meet customers’ needs with real-time data-driven decisions will emerge the winners in this new retailing world.