The impending bankruptcy wave forces a rethink: How retail still works - and how not

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Trade war: The industry is struggling to survive

Photo: Laetitia Vancon / The New York Times / Redux / laif

Wilhelm Josten (54) owes his early entry into online business not to a trip to Silicon Valley, but to his wife.

She ordered gifts online all over Europe at an early age, says the butlers boss.

"At some point the number of parcels at home increased so much that it was clear to me that we also had to digitize," says the founder and managing director of the supplier of decorative items, table and living accessories.

Butlers operates over 120 branches at home and abroad.

That was 14 years ago.

In 2007 the first own web shop went online.

At that time, the company was considered a pioneer of digitization, but before the corona shutdown, Butlers was already making up to 20 percent of its sales online.

Now the shopping behavior of Josten's wife has really paid off: "On the first day of the lockdown, our online sales tripled. So we were able to survive the crisis with sufficient liquidity," says Josten gratefully.

Other retailers had to go bankrupt - such as Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof or Esprit, who have relied on outdated concepts for too long or are suppliers of clothing and shoes in those industries that suffer particularly badly from Corona (see graphic).

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