Many brands have improved their digital sales in the pandemic, but they will need to adopt digitalization even more aggressively to keep up with the market leaders.

In mid-2020, many brands observed huge digital sales during the ongoing pandemic. No matter how good or bad their capability was, most brands observed a substantial spike in their sales. What most people fail to observe is that the improvements in digital sales had almost nothing to do with what the company had done and almost everything to do with the realities of life during the pandemic, when people were flocking to digital channels. Pandemic had led people to stay in and of course, the continuous lockdown made people go digital for their everyday needs. 

Many businesses have found that a false sense of their digital capabilities has settled on many companies and thus instead of rethinking their digital strategies, these have developed a false notion to keep up with the pace that has made tremendous growth in 2020. Of course, the companies should take pride in those accomplishments. But not for very long. To maintain growth over pure plays and a new wave of start-ups, they must commit to the digital practices discussed in this article. Fast times mean improvised solutions should give way to new and decisive moves. 

While many digital habits are sticking, the easing of constraints where COVID has abated has led, as expected, to a return to some non-digital habits. Digital leaders, meanwhile, are keeping their foot on the accelerator pedal. They are sharing test-and-learn findings across the business, reallocating digital talent, and using multiple sources of insight about customers weekly, while average performers do those tasks monthly. 

In this article, four areas have been highlighted that have acquired particular importance during the crisis: strategy, talent, data, and technology. To begin with…. Read more:  

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Originally Published on The Mckinsey.com