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How to Survive the Future of Retail

Covid-19 is a once-in-a-century event that will eradicate many retail species and accelerate the growth and evolution of 'apex predators' like Amazon, Alibaba, Walmart and JD.com. Only the fittest will survive.
Covid-19 will fuel the rapid growth and evolution of ‘apex predator’ retailers like Amazon, Alibaba, Walmart and JD.com | Illustration by BoF
By
  • Doug Stephens

Films about the future very often present the world that awaits us as a dark dystopia dominated by a handful of malevolent mega-corporations, controlling much of consumer life on Earth. Robocop's Omni Consumer Products, Alien's Weyland-Yutani or Blade Runner's Tyrell Corporation are only a few examples of such futuristic corporate nation states operating with impunity in a world in which they've become pervasive. In a

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