When Lehman Brothers went under it was a watershed moment. With the #iconic #debenhams now going under, it is one of those moments. With it comes the painful loss of 12,000 jobs.

The future of #retail needs to move beyond the online vs offline debate. It needs to be about creating #brands that have a differentiated offer and has the ability to create and rollout an #omnichannel offer.

In plain English, anything mass is easily replicable and is prone for a wipeout. Anyone with a retail ambition needs to think #niche, manageable scale, a highly developed online offer and a strong reason for store visits.

Retail brands, especially in the apparel space, suffer from poor differentiation. The proof is the absolute commoditisation of the category when it comes to Black Friday or mass shopping events.

You want to own the #highstreet? You then better create a brand that does justice to it.

Observation – Any strong retail brand has survived the dual online and Covid beast