Discussions about the future of digital commerce are often accompanied by a quiet sense of foreboding,

a fear that we're leaving the joy of shopping behind and heading toward a future where stores

are nothing more than static webpages. Needs are algorithmically divined, and orders are

robotically fulfilled, a future where the human

pleasure and serendipitous discovery of shopping becomes nostalgia, a relic of retail's past.

And a world where charming, small, and medium-sized brands become invisible in a landscape

dominated by e-commerce behemoths.

I'm Doug Stevens, and in episode three of Retail Reborn,

the Business of Fashion's new podcast series on redesigning the retail industry,

presented by Brookfield Properties,

I speak with four retail leaders who each, in their own way,

is challenging this narrative, and working to build a

better, and dare I say, more human experience in the online world.

The coronavirus pandemic has become a wormhole into the future, pushing both consumers and retailers firmly across the threshold of the digital era.

In only a few months, a handful of online marketplaces became the primary source of fulfillment for global consumers cut off from normality.

More people are finding new ways to get their groceries that don't involve stepping inside the

store.

Fox 13 Sydney Glenick explains how that.

Amazon is seeing a surge in demand as many people turn to online ordering to get supplies

during this outbreak.

So the company plans to hire an additional 100,000 employees.

Todd now for business headlines.

...