Our new series ‘the new way of shopping’ seeks to offer an overview of the situation. A number of trends are continuing to develop at a rapid pace. The e-commerce sector has received an enormous boost during the crisis, while local and sustainable purchasing are also achieving a remarkable level of success. ‘Business operators should not try to compete with the major retail outlets but stand out from the crowd. There is a huge demand for creative forms of entrepreneurship that take into account the latest trends in purchasing behaviour’, says Gino Van Ossel, who teaches at the Vlerick Business School.