The Weekly Consensus™ brings to your inbox every Monday a summary of the major stories that impacted consumer businesses in the prior week. It also includes “The Big Story” – and editorial by a Consensus professional commenting on an item of significance to the industry.
Through the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a predominant thought has been that digital brands – those generating a significant portion of their revenue online – should fare better, if not well, as consumer are confined to their homes with little alternative but to shop online. In some cases, that has borne out thus […]
The COVID-19 pandemic is paralyzing social and commercial activity. This is not only because of social distancing, but because this unprecedented, modern, and global pandemic has brought with it profound uncertainty. No one knows how long this will last, or what the human or economic toll will be. No one knows how large the psychological […]
A number of major companies across restaurants and retail made announcements last week regarding their April rent payments (and beyond). Cheesecake Factory announced it would not be paying April rent, and is in negotiations with landlords regarding what will happen with rents that are “otherwise payable during the period of the COVID-19 related closure.” The […]
As we face the COVID-19 pandemic, references are often being made to war. It is true that today there is hardship, a great sense of uncertainty, and fear. C.S. Lewis told an incoming class at Oxford in 1939 – on the cusp of World War II – that war makes more obvious the permanent human […]
As the pace and gravity of COVID-19 headlines markedly increased last week, it became clear that a number of spheres of public life in this country will be impacted in the next several weeks, and potentially longer. Daily life has begun to change in healthcare, travel, education, commerce, hospitality, entertainment, and more. Here at Consensus, […]