In much of the world now and Australia shops are tentatively starting or planning to reopen. Schools are starting to reopen. I would imagine within four-weeks most shops will in some form or another be open.
So its time to seriously start planning.
One problem I see that even if the shops do open, consumers may not be eager to go to a physical location because of fears of infection. Our restaurant clients were already suffering a huge loss in trade even before the lockdown for this pandemic came. The other problem is that now we have about 10% unemployment. A lot of people are now in no position to buy much. It is going to take quite a while to get them working and until they are settled you can be sure that until then their shopping priorities will change.
And then there is also the loss of the Chinese tourist, we need them back and I doubt they are coming back soon.
But life goes on.
So I think we can expect many changes in consumer shopping habits as we leave lockdown. There will be an initial surge, to places like the hair salons, then doctors, dentist and other health professionals. There is also now an initial pent up demand, for example, I badly need a new pair of runners and I cannot order online as always have trouble with shoes so I need to try them first. Then there will be a slow move to something that could be called normal.
The other problem is that the public has been forced to use internet shopping. Many are now getting used to it so it will be a struggle for brick and mortar shops to get them back, so count on big sales.
The Grand reopenings!
Where are you going to be in all of this? What are your plans?
