Coming Out Of Lockdown
When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth
In 2019 the world's markets thrived, Companies like Disney hopped across the globe with everything from merchandise to various film franchises to theme parks. Cities globally helped people who refused to move to online shopping and chose instead to go into the high street to try on new clothes and see new Televisions on the shelf.
Fastword to August, the theme parks that would normally attract hundreds of thousands over the summer are silent. The bustling highstreets are empty, the world has changed forever. The titans of various industries now must find new ways to survive. Others such as Amazon now find themselves dominating even simple markets. Overnight the well established ecosystem of the businesses of the world seems to have been wiped out as if a gigantic asteroid has slammed into it and vaporized the tightly woven cogs that held it together.
One thing is clear, many of the giant Dinosaurs of old, such as cinema chains, High street retail and leisure pursuits would not echo their morning calls as they desperately tried to adapt to a new world. The dawn chorus had fallen silent.The Silent Dawn
Mid-March saw a sudden change, the streets that normally pulsate with masses of shoppers and commuters lay quiet, from New York to London, to Dubai and Delhi. The world lays dormant. Some positives are quickly noticed such a Dolphins swimming happily in the Venice canals yet for Business, the air is far less positive.A few lucky giants have found themselves under the umbrella of key workers. Supermarkets, fast-food chains and take-aways, as well as health professionals still operate as normal. Yet no one is truly around to make use of them. For some Businesses the silence is too much, both giants and small businesses begin to find themselves in difficulties.Others find new pathways and begin to innovate. This is the start of a changing landscape. All of a sudden, nearly everyone is living their lives from their beds or chairs. Many would be working from home or being paid via the furlough scheme. The morning chorus was set to begin again yet different from before.Thriving Undergrowth
With brick and mortar stores standing empty the online environment began to flourish. Surprisingly, this wasn’t just large retailers that thrived. Smaller businesses began selling online, finding success of their own. Although forced, this mass exodus proved that businesses on every level could adapt to the growing online market. A market that was now exploding faster than ever before.
Streaming services also saw a huge boom as the viewing habits of millions altered over night. New social networks went from the societal fringe to center stage in a matter of weeks and of course, we all watched the Crown and the tiger king. This would slowly hit a roadblock as not all film crews could film and things like the second season of the witcher were delayed.
Yet with this boom of streaming services saw theatres begin to struggle with the lack of revenue being brought in. Farmers struggled to sell crops without restaurants and pubs open to buy them. Supermarkets however would place larger orders due to panic buying.
Eventually however, things began to ease up. With a few false starts the world would begin to open once again and the high streets would begin to bustle once again.The Return of the Giants
In several locations ques for shops like Primark could bend around corners, swinging up and down highstreets. This was the signal that the online world had yet to entirely take over, the High street and other businesses that operated with a physical presence were here to stay. Not all had survived and some would decide to remain in the online space. Many however would settle on a mixture of both, but it did now beg the question as to what would happen next.An Uncertain Future
Looking at where to go, the first place to look is resources. Many businesses will have to take stock and ask three important questions. Is there enough revenue coming in to reopen? Is the revenue from a physical shop worth reopening? Is there more profit in the online space?
Whilst some businesses have come out of the pandemic perhaps even more successful than they were before, there are serious repercussions to come economically. It is predicted that COVID-19 will have cost the world around $35 Trillion although this estimate may be too high and the actual figure sits more at $16 Trillion.
Looking at the Remote Working angle raises unique problems such as digital inequality which means that employers will most likely need to supply their employees with the equipment needed to work from home. This leads to each employee who is remote working needing to have their own well function cyber security installed. This all adds up to new costs, the only positive being most businesses have already had to do this.
In the UK the government is issuing several grants and loans to help businesses build themselves back up into this new world. Although the high streets and the city centers have the people back in force, it's hard to avoid the steady conclusion, viewing and shopping habits have possibly irreversibly changed. The future does seem to belong to the internet, although, only time will tell.