Helping with a good cause is a vital way for retailers who are struggling to capture demand amid the coronavirus crisis to stay relevant.
The COVID-19 crisis continues to disrupt the daily lives of businesses across the retail scene that have had to close stores and halt operations amid country lockdowns and quarantine measures. Despite this, several leading brands and retailers across the world have set up emergency operations to help alleviate pressure on health systems and the people working to save lives.
From high-street fashion and luxury sectors to beauty and furniture, retailers across industries are repurposing their supply chains to produce protective medical gear such as gloves, masks and gowns following reports of severe shortages from doctors and nurses inundated with coronavirus stricken patients. This strand of work has been particularly evident among the fashion houses in Europe, the luxury conglomerate LVMH, which owns Dior, Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Givenchy, announced last weekend that it would be supplying the French authorities with more than 40 million face masks. Kering has also said it will be purchasing 3 million surgical masks from China to donate to the French health service, while Mango has announced it will distribute 2 million donated face masks to Spanish hospitals.
While, in the UK, both Boots and Amazon will help the government in a new coronavirus testing drive for frontline NHS staff. They join others from philanthropy and universities drafted in by the government in a bid to significantly scale up testing for health workers in the UK.
Source: Mintel’s European Retail Briefing-March 2020
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