Burger
Offices
Lysaker

Lysaker Torg 45
1366 Lysaker

Oslo, Norge

+47 95 70 60 42
bernhard.olsen@pearlgroup.no

Sandefjord

Østre Kullerød 4
3241 Sandefjord

+47 957 06 042
bernhard.olsen@pearlgroup.no

Stockholm

Rosenborgsgatan 12
SE-169 74 Solna 
Sweden

+46 708 31 98 02
carl.ostholm@pearlgroup.se

Göteborg

Datavägen 14A
436 32 Göteborg

Sverige

+46 73 633 62 57
per.bengtson@pearlgroup.se

Malmö

Hyllie Stationstorg 31
215 32 Malmö
Sverige

Johan Linde
+46 704 444 551
johan.linde@pearlgroup.se 

Kyiv

Gulliver, 1A Sportyvna Square
01023 Kyiv
Ukraina

+47 995 07 750
trond.pedersen@pearlgroup.no

Riga

Krišjāņa Valdemāra street 21 - 20
Riga, LV-1010
Latvia

+ 37 126 539 878
armands.slihte@pearlgroup.no

Singapore

Pearl Care Singapore PTE LTD
9 Temasek Boulevard
31F Suntec Tower 2
Singapore 038989

+65 915 048 94
Are Gløersen

Helsinki

Pearl Finland Oy
Meritullinkatu 1
00170 Helsinki

Helena Järvi
 +35810 579 8471
helena.jarvi@pearlgroup.fi

 

Tuomas Haimi
+358 10 579 84 70
tuomas.haimi@pearlgroup.fi

Management
Trond Skjellerud

CEO Pearl Group

trond.skjellerud@pearlgroup.no

+47 45 002 800

Tom Berget

Business Development Director

tom.berget@pearlgroup.no
+47 932 87 712

Therese Mellegård

Project Director

therese.mellegaard@pearlgroup.no
+47 415 03 212

Bernhard Olsen

CEO Pearl Norway

bernhard.olsen@pearlgroup.no
+47 957 06 042

Ingemar Goksøyr

CFO

ingemar.goksoyr@pearlgroup.no
+47 90 60 10 00

Stian Green

Director Pearl Care

stian.green@pearlgroup.no
+47 920 11 808

Trond Pedersen

Director International Operations

trond.pedersen@pearlgroup.no
+47 995 07 750

Carl Östholm

CEO Pearl Sweden

carl.ostholm@pearlgroup.se
+46 708 31 98 02

Helena Järvi

CEO Pearl Finland

helena.jarvi@pearlgroup.fi
 +35810 579 8471

Tuomas Haimi

COO Pearl Finland

tuomas.haimi@pearlgroup.fi
+358 10 579 84 70

Armands Slihte

CEO Pearl Latvia

armands.slihte@pearlgroup.no
+37 126 539 878

Torkel Johannessen

CEO PearlConvert

torkel@pearlconvert.no
+47 458 60 292

Written by


Pearl Group

Published


16.06.2022

The pandemic is over – what's next for retail?

GettyImages-1317596238

The retail sector had to adjust at record speed during the pandemic. Now is the time to streamline processes and thoroughly implement innovation.

 

"In 2020 and 2021, all online stores experienced massive growth because going to a store wasn't an option. Many who had previously had a solid physical presence suddenly had to make all their goods available digitally," says Erlend Sørby Johansen, team leader for Commerce at Pearl Group.

Sørby Johansen vividly remembers the restructuring that many customers were thrown into when the pandemic first hit. A lot had to fall into place at once; there were "arms and legs," and many in the retail sector had to rely on temporary solutions.

Even though Norway has reopened, the industry is once again in transition – this time, it's all about dealing with both a great demand online and in physical stores simultaneously. To better adjust to this new reality, Sørby Johansen recommends that his customers spend a little extra time implementing growth measures from the pandemic in a proper way.

"A lot of the innovation from this period is something you should take a step back from today to ensure that the company has proper processes around everything from logistics to finance. Now is the time to ensure that you have a planned-out process, from A to Z. The industry didn't exactly have time for this when they had to innovate in four weeks during the pandemic," says Sørby Johansen.

 

High rate of innovation

"Today, the retail trade has entered a new period where the focus is on the total package; whether you go to a physical store or online, or you call customer service, the customer meeting in the various channels is your face to the outside world. The most professional companies now focus on delivering equally well in all the channels where they have customer meetings," says Sørby Johansen.

The commerce expert acknowledges that the state of affairs is challenging for the retail industry.

"Balancing online and physical sales is a demanding job. The period of restructuring and cementing that many are in now is mainly about taking out synergies, standardizing processes introduced during the pandemic, and ensuring that your business has control and overview," says Sørby Johansen.

"If you do this well, you can get an excellent effect in all channels."

 

A sizable task

Sørby Johansen has a clear recommendation to all retail companies looking to take a step further after a hectic pandemic shutdown.

"If I were a retail company, I would start with the customer journey - where the customer meetings occur - and then work my way back. You should go up all these links and map them throughout the application landscape," says Sørby Johansen.

Those who have recently started offering home delivery from a physical store, for example, can start from the moment the customer first interacts with the store and then work backward to standardize the entire customer journey so that it becomes a good process for all customers.

"It's all about making relevant data available to the sales personnel and customers so that you can ensure a consistent experience across all channels," says Sørby Johansen.

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