Covid-19 Vs. Indian Retail

The effect of this pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has resulted in an enormous setback to the retail industry. While the industry is committed to ensure the safety of billions of people, some challenges faced in the current time is of large magnitude. Due to mandatory closure of retail stores across India, retailers face imminent financial crises and insolvency, with stores at risk of shutdown and millions of job losses.

- Ameet Panchal

COVID-19 a.k.a. the Novel Coronavirus is one of the biggest global crises which compels us to imagine a world completely changed in its wake. The severity of the situation brings with it uncertainty about the future and a need for a fundamental shift in approach. The pace at which Covid-19 is affecting people and the world economies is a historical chaos that looks to bring a major change in the way businesses function from hereon.

Collectively as a nation, India is battling the pandemic by adhering to globally successful preventative strategies of containment, such as a nationwide lockdown and by enforcing strict social distancing and proactive contact-tracing to control the spread in our country. As a contributing factor we, at Ethnicity, stand in solidarity for every person and every nation affected by this catastrophe and we have taken some key measures to fight this shared challenge.

We have been closely monitoring the situation and are in constant contact with our team and retail fraternity across the country as the well-being of our patrons, colleagues and communities are our topmost priority. Our decisions are made in accordance with the World Health Organisation’s precautionary measures to avoid contamination and our Government authorities’ rules to ensure safety. As a means to respond to the rapidly changing situation at hand we have taken the following steps collectively as a brand:

• We have temporarily closed all our retail outlets and our head office to minimize the risk of exposure and urged our team to stay indoors.

• We have rolled out work-from-home facilities and digital collaboration alternatives to minimize in-person meetings whenever possible.

• We have temporarily shut down our warehouse and our orders on our ecommerce portal to ensure all our staff are safely confined to their homes.