In the beginning of 2020 billion people met something which turned their lives upside down literally in a few weeks. Closed borders, troubled travels between countries and continents, social isolation and a lot of business and people suffering because of that.

All that wasn’t because of the economic crisis - we were hit by a pandemic. Even if it didn’t lead to recession immediately, the pandemic created more fear and insecurity in the system.

After the primary panic manufacturers and retailers around the world pulled off and acted according to the current situation, remodeling the way they work. Business became more online instead of offline, retailers started predominantly leaning on online sales. Thus, Covid-19 managed to urge extreme progress in most of the business just in a couple of months. In different circumstances, this progress would have been achieved for years.

2021 began with the hope that with the vaccines on the horizon everything will go back to normal. Is this true we cannot now until the end of the year, perhaps even until the first half of the next year. But some of the new habits and the new business models that the pandemic created in 2020 will remain for good. What will change permanently in retail? What will change for good in manufacturing? The answers to all these questions we will metaphorically learn in “the year after the pandemic”.

Until then we can prepare for the forthcoming as we gather again during the 12 PROGRESSIVE Conference in which we will try to be as useful as usual with the most important information for each FMCG business so they can plan their affairs for the unclear future.