Skip to main content

Earlier this week, we looked at the broader challenge to retail from the COVID-19 pandemic, and began to look at the ways retailers might not only survive but thrive in this new normal.

Today, I want to take a look at the first of the new rules of retail in that new normal: personal safety is now shoppers’ first priority.

A recent McKinsey & Company survey found that consumers’ top priorities when deciding where to shop in-store now include cleaning and sanitization (31 percent), masks and barriers (25 percent), and physical distancing (15 percent.)

“Concerns about health and safety have…