While the past few years have been clouded by talk of a ‘retail-apocalypse’, the recent temporary closures of many retail locations has brought into focus just how false this narrative has been.

If anything, we can all see now just how important retail is and the human interactions that come along with it. Without these brick-and-mortar experiences, shopping is just a transaction on a screen. Quality one-on-one interactions and experiences at retail have been, and will always be, important. We are reminded of that now more than ever. Now that we don’t have them, it’s amazing how much we miss the human connections that are part of our daily routines with many of those interactions take place in retail stores.

These past few weeks have brought a quick wave of uncertainty for the retail industry as we continue to battle against a growing pandemic.  Many brands across the country, and the world, have needed to put their in-store field teams on pause and re-evaluate just about everything in their business. With all of the upheaval going on maybe you are thinking about how to restructure your field team.

By Kelly Kovack, Founder of Beauty Matter

Uber is often credited with unleashing the gig economy, but freelance workers have been the front line of the beauty industry at retail for decades. This army of beauty gig workers are the ultimate influencers—in that store, at that moment, for that consumer, they are the face of your brand and they close the sale.

While laws were already in place under the “ABC” test making it virtually impossible for beauty brands and retailers to classify their hourly workers doing sales, merchandising, events, and other retail support functions as 1099 workers, many businesses have done just that for years. However, the California bill, known as AB 5, that went into effect in January has increased awareness across the country for the need to properly categorize workers.