k Times, Bloomberg,
and Vox, The Shopping Revolution
is "a brisk and thought-provoking anatomy of shopping in the 21st century" (Kirkus Reviews). The retail industry was already in the midst of unparalleled disruption. Then came COVID-19. In a fully updated and expanded edition of
The Shopping Revolution: How Retailers Succeed in an Era of Endless Disruption Accelerated by COVID-19, Wharton professor Barbara E. Kahn, a foremost retail expert, examines the companies that have been most successful during a tsunami of change in the industry. She offers fresh insights into what we can learn from these companies' ascendance and continued transformation in the face of unprecedented challenges.
Kahn, also the author of
Global Brand Power: Leveraging Branding for Long-Term Growth, examines: In a
brand-new chapter, how companies in China, like
Alibaba,
JD.com, and
Pinduoduo have changed the game;How
Amazon became the retailer of choice for a large portion of the US population, and how other companies have chosen to work with them or have to compete against them; How
Walmart beat out other grocers in the late 1990s to become the leader in food retailing, and how they must pivot to hold their leadership position today; How
Warby Parker dared to compete against
Luxottica in the lucrative eyewear business, and what that can tell start-ups about how to carve out a niche against a Goliath; How
Sephora drew away customers from once-dominant department stores to become the go-to retailers for beauty products.
Kahn argues we are just witnessing the start of the radical changes in retail that have been hastened by the pandemic and will revolutionize shopping in every way. Building on these insights, Kahn offers a framework that any company can use to create a competitive strategy to survive and thrive in today's--and tomorrow's--retail environment.