How U.S. Retailers Should Prepare for a Pandemic

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retailers should prepare for a pandemic by securing alternative supply chains, moving sales online, protecting employee and customer health, and building operational resilience.

The right preparation strategy depends on how you buy, store, move, and sell your products.

Whether you're running a brick-and-mortar store or an eCommerce operation, these four pillars determine how well you'll survive — and even grow — when the next crisis hits.

As COVID-19 spread across the globe, retailers asked: how will this affect our businesses? While retailers in the food, health care, and cleaning supplies sectors saw a spike in online sales, the long-term impact remained uncertain for months. Events like Adobe Summit, Magento Imagine, and Shoptalk were postponed or canceled — early signals that retail disruption was accelerating.

If an outbreak progresses, U.S. retailers must prepare for the disruption that follows. Governments close businesses and encourage social distancing. People stay home. Brick-and-mortar sales decline sharply — partially compensated by a spike in online sales, as happened in China. The question is: how can your business prepare for a pandemic that disrupts the entire market?

Enduring the pandemic: supply chain and operations

Retailers have four core actions: buy, store, move, and sell. Each of these faces challenges when a pandemic hits.

Imports from hard-hit overseas regions get delayed. During COVID-19, shipments from Chinese suppliers slowed first, and European suppliers followed. Manufacturers in the United States that depend on imported materials had to delay production, creating immense bottlenecks across the supply chain.

Products in high demand during a pandemic — sanitizers, masks, shelf-stable foods — get placed on backorder as suppliers and manufacturers struggle to keep up.

Steps retailers should take

Set purchase limits on high-demand items so bulk buyers don't hoard products that other consumers need.

Identify alternative suppliers and substitute products — your Plan B — before your primary supply chain breaks down. This is something the Oliver Wyman analysis also recommends: plan ahead for "Plan B" planograms and substitute assortments.

Review your [inventory management](/inventory-management-software) processes. If you're still tracking stock in spreadsheets, a pandemic is the worst time to discover gaps. Real-time inventory visibility helps you react faster.

Build safety stock for essential items. Use historical demand data and lead time estimates to set reorder points that account for supply disruptions.

Communicate with suppliers early and often. Don't wait until a shipment is late — proactively ask about capacity, lead times, and contingency plans.

Shifting to online sales

With fewer consumers coming into physical stores, businesses that are primarily offline need to shift their focus to a stronger online presence. If your company has never seriously invested in eCommerce, a pandemic forces the question.

As more Americans become cautious of outside contact and are asked to stay or work from home, they need an outlet to fulfill their consumer needs. eCommerce provides that outlet with little to no physical contact. Consumers around the world seek convenience during a crisis; the more online options you offer, the more likely they are to buy from you. This same trend played out in China before it reached U.S. shores.

Here's a practical comparison of how offline and online retail differ during a pandemic:

If you're a manufacturer selling directly to consumers, look into an inventory management system that connects your production floor to your online sales channels. Managing stock across physical and digital channels from one platform helps you avoid overselling and stockouts.

Health and safety for employees and customers

During a pandemic, the health of your employees and customers should be your top priority. As a retailer, you play a direct role in slowing the spread of a virus.

If you have a physical store:

Place hand sanitizers at entrances and throughout the store.

Wipe down shopping carts, baskets, and high-touch surfaces regularly with disinfectants.

• Post clear signage reminding customers and staff of hygiene protocols.
• Consider occupancy limits and directional aisles to support social distancing.

For your team:

Inform staff to wash their hands frequently with soap and water, avoid touching their face, and use alcohol-based sanitizer.

Encourage staff members to stay home if they — or anyone in their household — are feeling sick. Unwell staff should self-quarantine for the recommended period before returning to work.

Limit travel for head office members. Encourage work from home wherever possible.

With cloud-based inventory software, non-operations personnel can work from home without losing access to critical business data. Accountants, marketing team members, and purchasing managers can log into the platform from anywhere.

For manufacturers specifically, lot tracking becomes even more important during a health crisis. If a contamination issue arises, you need to trace affected batches quickly — forward and backward through your supply chain.

How the pandemic changed the retail landscape

The COVID-19 pandemic didn't just create a temporary disruption — it permanently changed how consumers shop and how retailers operate. Understanding these shifts helps you prepare for future disruptions.

Consumer behavior shifts:

Online grocery and essentials shopping surged and never fully returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Curbside pickup and buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) became standard expectations.

Consumers became more brand-flexible, willing to switch when their preferred products were out of stock.

Operational shifts for retailers:

Supply chain diversification became a strategic priority, not just a nice-to-have.

Retailers invested heavily in inventory visibility and demand forecasting tools.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels grew as manufacturers and brands bypassed traditional retail.

Retailers and manufacturers who adapted quickly — by investing in digital infrastructure, diversifying suppliers, and improving inventory control — came out of the pandemic stronger.

Preparing your business for the next disruption

The Coronavirus pandemic had enormous economic repercussions. It made life harder for many businesses and pushed markets closer to recession. But it also revealed which businesses were resilient and which were fragile.

Here's what you should do now to prepare for the next disruption — pandemic or otherwise:

Audit your supply chain. Know where every critical material comes from and have at least one backup supplier.

Invest in real-time inventory tracking. You can't manage what you can't see. Move beyond spreadsheets to a system that gives you accurate stock levels across all locations.

Build your online channel. If you're an offline-first business, use calm periods to plan and launch your online strategy so you're not scrambling during a crisis.

Create a remote work plan. Identify which roles can work from home and make sure they have the cloud-based tools to do so.

Cut unnecessary spending and build reserves. Lean operations give you more runway when revenue dips.

Document your crisis playbook. Write down the decisions you'd make in the first 48 hours of a disruption. Having a plan means faster execution when it matters.

Companies that faced bottlenecks during COVID-19 should use the lessons learned to make lasting changes to operations. Sales always pick up again once a crisis dissipates — the question is whether your business is positioned to capture that recovery.

Sources

• Fortune
• Latimes
• Forbes
• Nih
• Sciencedirect
• Gray

Frequently asked questions

What is pandemic preparedness?

Pandemic preparedness is the process of planning and building systems that help your business continue operating during a widespread health crisis. For retailers, it includes securing backup suppliers, enabling online sales, protecting employees, and maintaining accurate inventory visibility.

What happened to the retail and restaurant industry in the U.S. during COVID?

Physical retail and restaurants experienced sharp revenue declines during lockdowns. Many smaller businesses closed permanently. However, retailers with strong eCommerce operations saw online sales surge, and restaurants that pivoted to delivery and takeout fared better than those that didn't adapt.

How is the consumer's role changing in the retailing landscape post-pandemic?

Consumers now expect more convenience, flexibility, and safety from retailers. Online shopping, curbside pickup, and contactless delivery have become baseline expectations rather than bonuses. Consumers are also more willing to try new brands and switch products when their usual choices are unavailable.

Why was the U.S. not fully prepared for COVID?

The U.S. relied heavily on global supply chains — particularly from China — for essential products like PPE, pharmaceuticals, and raw materials. Limited domestic manufacturing capacity for these items, combined with fragmented federal and state response plans, left many retailers and manufacturers scrambling to adapt.

How Brahmin Solutions can help

Disruptions — pandemics, supply chain crises, demand spikes — expose the fragility of manual operations. If your inventory data lives in spreadsheets and your planning happens in someone's head, you can't pivot quickly when conditions change. Brahmin gives you real-time inventory visibility across every location, so you know exactly what you have and how fast it's moving without calling individual warehouses.

When demand shifts, you re-run MRP and get updated production schedules and purchase order suggestions in minutes, not days. Multi-supplier tracking means you already know your backup vendors and their lead times when a primary supplier can't deliver. Operational resilience starts with operational visibility. Book a demo and see how Brahmin helps you respond faster to disruptions.