When the leader of your country is in self-quarantine, it sort of drives the point home that there's something going on.

These are moments where consumers do go out, they look for alternatives that they think can get them through the short term,

but in some cases those alternatives may change their behavior over the long term.

What are you advising companies to do at a time like this? You can use this time to reinvent how you do what you do,

to bring consumers new value, and in the process,

potentially even reinvent your own brand.

Hi, this is Imran Ahmed founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion.

And welcome to a special episode of the BEOF podcast.

With the world bracing for the coronavirus crisis as it spreads around the world,

we've seen hotspots in China, Iran, and now currently in Italy.

It has become clear that this is going to be a time unlike any other in the kind of modern era of the luxury industry.

And so we're dedicating this episode and future episodes to talk to

some of our most trusted experts from the VOF community to help us navigate what's happening,

help us understand what we need to do to be ready for the changes that are inevitably about

to happen as we all start working from home as consumer behavior starts to shift

and as the industry braces for a huge global recession. This week, I sit down with Doug Stevens,

also known as the retail profit. Doug's columns are amongst some of the most popular columns on

BOF. I wanted to talk to him this week about how the coronavirus crisis might shift consumer behavior. So here's Doug Stevens inside fashion.

Hello, Doug. Hi, I'm Ron. How are you? I'm very well. How are you?

Very good. Thank you.

You're joining us from Toronto today. What's the mood like over there at the moment?

There's definitely a very odd feeling in the air.

...