Every retailer must now be essential, supporting the emotional lifestyle and well-being of the customer, as well as simply supplying products. 'Meaning in the Retail Madness' explains how touchpoints have replaced channels, how linear supply chains will become circular, why assortments are increasingly virtual, how physical is turning to local, and why products and shops are not necessarily made for each other anymore. It supplies a blueprint for retail's new 'agile organisation, ' its structure and its processes. How retail must integrate people with technology, generate commercial sales through sustainability, stimulate customer loyalty through ethical behaviour, and achieve profit without profiteering. Richly illustrated throughout with original sketches and diagrams "Meaning in the Retail Madness" will visually stimulate and educate a wide variety of readers from seasoned professionals and retail entrepreneurs to retail creatives, technologists, facilitators, and informed customers. The book is focused on 3 essential themes. How to flourish in...'The Life & Times of the Essential Retailer' How to evolve into...'Agile Organisations' How to adopt...'Astute Strategies' As the 'Z to A of Retail Disruption' it also includes over 90 Retailer Insights - from Zara to Amazon, Zalando to Aldi, and 70 Action Plans - from 'Zooming & Zoning' to 'Allocation & Meaning in the Retail Madness' is a book of its times, that will remain a guide and inspiration for years to come. "The madness of retail will be perceived only by those who find no meaning in it. Whilst the essential retailers will be those that embrace the sense of it."