For the world's retailers and especially those with sales principally in developed economies, today's environment is extremely challenging. Global credit markets have seized up following troubles in the U.S. housing market. The U.S. consumer economy has stalled and, given America's traditional role as an engine of global growth, has caused economic slowdown in many other countries. High food and energy prices are causing consumers to shift away from non-food and non-fuel products. To the extent that spending is growing at all, consumers are becoming more price sensitive and drifting away from high-priced stores toward discounters.

Will this environment persist? Probably not. All economic contractions ultimately end and this one will be no exception. Yet most economic contractions are part of a larger process of economic restructuring. Economic volatility often does persist even after the initial shock ends. In this case, troubles in credit markets are likely to outlive the economic downturn. Even when the U.S. economy recovers, as it ultimately will, global credit market conditions will be weak until financial markets are confident that most bad assets have been written off. 

What strategies and tactics can help position retailers to survive, and even thrive, during an economic storm? What follows is a list of challenges to help change the perspective of your management team and a sample of suggestions for them to act on. Learn more by downloading our white paper below.