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Consumer industry executives in China already have a clear sense of one of the big strategic implications of the coronavirus crisis: the need to accelerate the migration of their businesses online. We surveyed senior figures at makers of consumer goods, apparel and luxury products to gauge their response to COVID-19. The majority said strengthening online routes to market is the priority in the next one to two years.
That’s a reflection of the way that some Chinese shoppers have turned to online retail to avoid public gatherings. The digital shift is likely to be permanent in many cases. Almost half of the executives surveyed are bracing themselves for big, virus-related shifts in consumer behavior between now and 2022.
The author thanks Elle Yang for her contribution to this analysis.
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First published in febbraio 2020