Retail at the Speed of CassandraAccording to Statista, physical retail store sales dropped from $19.4 trillion in 20191 to $18.5 trillion in 20202. In the same period, however, online sales grew from $3.46 trillion to $4.29 trillion, a dramatic 24.1% leap3. And even as many parts of the world are slowly emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure on retailers continues, with more than 30 major U.S. chains filing for bankruptcy since the pandemic began, including well-known businesses such as Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, and Brooks Brothers. The two primary trends driving these changes were present before COVID: growing customer expectations around fluid, multi-channel experiences and globalization, which has increased supply chain complexity and risk of disruption. But during 2

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