NEW YORK — The COVID-19 pandemic is shaking up the calendar for retail and supplier ­executives.

Last month the National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced that the 2020 Annual Meeting will not be held. The event had been scheduled for April 22 through April 28 in Scotts­dale, Ariz.

The final decision was made after Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced in March on that the state would follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance and order that events attended by 50 or more people, including  conferences, not be held in Arizona until May at the earliest.

“To state the obvious, the 2020 NACDS Annual Meeting will not be held,” NACDS president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson said in a statement. “Looking forward, the NACDS board of directors emphasizes that our attention turns to the 2020 NACDS Total Store Expo, which will be held August 8 to August 10 in San Diego. The NACDS Total Store Expo will deliver on its usual expectations, and it will live up to its additional responsibilities in a year without the NACDS Annual Meeting. In addition, we already are planning for the highly anticipated return of the NACDS Annual Meeting next year, April 24 to April 27, 2021, at The Breakers in Palm Beach.”

More recently, Global Market Development Center|Retail Tomorrow announced that it is postponing its General Merchandise Conference, originally scheduled for early June, until fall.

The conference will now run concurrently with the trade association’s 2020 Selfcare Summit at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Registration and programming for each event will be separate. GM20 will take place from September 30 through October 4, while the Selfcare Summit will run from October 1 through October 5.

ECRM also rescheduled a number of its events, and it has debuted a technological option designed to allow retailers and their buyers to maintain connections despite travel restrictions.

Efficient Supplier Introductions (ESI) are category-specific live virtual experiences during which suppliers present their products directly to category buyers.