James Stewart, a business restructuring expert with KPMG who specialises in retail, said while sellers of food, consumer electronics and tech already operating online were likely to remain profitable, Monday’s government announcement would hit hard those trading in fashion and other discretionary goods from city and suburban shops.
The shift to working from home, the shift to online, that was already happening,” Mr Stewart said. “Then COVID comes along and whacks twin turbo-chargers on it and, effectively, what you end up with is five years of disruption in three months.
It is forcing a whole class of society to be in a digital, global Petri dish at the same time. People who never had to buy online and never would have considered …
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