Is Covid-19 Defining Our ‘New-Normal’?

This time, the recovery period may be longer, any of other pandemics didn’t stop the world to a standstill, but this did. Therefore, this time it seems like world will reboot itself. So, let’s see what will this ‘World 2.0’ look like…

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While sitting in my room with laptop open for office work, sipping my evening coffee, I look outside from the window…the unimaginable clear sky, the more than ever chirping of birds and the kind of silence with no traffic, which you could never imagine in a metro city like Delhi. I wonder where we have come to…what is this situation that we are force to be in…what is happening around us. We generally say “Oh! What a small world” …and here we are witnessing it LIVE right now! This coronavirus has changed habits, behaviors, sentiments, it has changed how we work, schools are closing, many are asked to work from home, who doesn’t know about the plight of migrant workers and their never ending ‘walks to home’, sports leagues have been canceled, airports are shut, economy is all time low. In fact, it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that it has turned our lives upside down completely! We all are facing humanity’s biggest crisis since World War II. But a silver lining to this situation is that the countries have realized that most important resource is not oil, gas, gold or water, it is the HUMAN RESOURCE! Saving lives is more important than ever for governments of all the countries. As we are facing all these changes due to coronavirus, I sometimes think that what would future look like once this pandemic is over. History suggests that whenever a pandemic has occurred, the recovery period has been longer than the outbreak. For example, when SARS outbreak happened in China in March 2003, it took time till Jan-Feb 2004 for the market to stabilize. Similarly, the case for MERS outbreak is South Korea in 2015. This time, the recovery period may be longer, any of other pandemics didn’t stop the world to a standstill, but this did. Therefore, this time it seems like world will reboot itself. So, let’s see what will this ‘World 2.0’ look like… INTRODUCTION OF CASHLESS SOCIETY The coronavirus appears to have sparked the start of a cashless society basis the fear that virus is being spread through notes and coins and thus has led to many businesses only accepting contact-less payments. A global cashless society already seemed inevitable as a result of the widespread and increasing use of tap-and-go payment channels and digital transactions. But due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this way of life could be introduced a lot sooner with many vendors now refusing to accept cash payments. In India, we somehow tasted it during demonetization in 2016. But we shouldn't forget that it will make people vulnerable to breaches if an account is hacked into, scams can be on rise. HABIT OF ‘PERSONAL HYGIENE ’ WILL BOOM, SO DOES ITS PRODUCTS ! The common man has been introduced to the world of ‘Personal Hygiene’ habits. Not to say that earlier hygiene did not exist, but Covid-19 has certainly brought it to people’s top of mind. These products are not only here to stay but will boom post Covid-19. One research* survey claims that 67% people say they will ‘buy more’ of soaps, handwash, sanitizers, whereas, 58% will buy more bathroom cleaners, phenyl, floor cleaners, etc. Large packs would become more important because people would want to reduce the frequency of their visits to stores and some consumers fearing shortages, may want to stock more in reserve, in short — fewer trips and bigger baskets phenomenon. Infact portfolio of hygiene category has already made entry into many people’s houses. 41% claim to have bought a new hygiene category in the last one month. BURST OF ONLINE AVAILABILITY OF SERVICES WHICH WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THOUGHT ABOUT EARLIER The situation is rapidly changing, the amount of people who used to find it safe to gather in a single place has dwindled from thousands, to hundreds, to ten. It is interesting to see how people are approaching this uncertainty with overnight changes to their product and services consumption behaviors. This ongoing global crisis will eventually force the healthcare institutions and regulatory bodies to turn to alternative ways of providing healthcare while limiting exposure to the virus. Doctors would be seeing patients on video calls for regular flu and small ailments (this concept is called tele-medicine). Interestingly, with the fear of avoiding gyms, online fitness sessions will become the norm. Buying groceries and essential products online was already there, but the number of people opting for this is only going to increase now. A recent research* says that in the last one month, 26% people in India have bought OTC medicine online for the first time in their lives, hence change in behavior has already started setting-in. DINING OUT V/S EXPERIMENTAL HOME-COOKING For a country like India, the biggest takeaway from this pandemic will be an increased focus on health and sanitation. Considering the need of hour is hygiene, the biggest concern for restaurant industry will be to convince the customer to feel safe at outlets. Reviving restaurants will come as a dawdling wave. We are already seeing that people have taken this time to start cooking and trying out new dishes on their own. Sharing time with family and friends is seen as priority right now, with ‘cooking at home’ only adding the beauty to the moments. Who knows there might be a sudden demand for eating out once everything settles down, given people’s craving for restaurant-style cooking or the ‘conscious ones’ may stick to their ‘home-cooking experiments’ due to fear of lack of hygiene? Will this be the end of dining out as we know it? Or will we move to a concept called ‘Conscious- Dining’? Only time will tell…human behavior is unpredictable you see! A HUMAN REVOLUTION Humankind is going through a humanitarian revolution. There will be a dichotomy for a long time between ‘being a social animal’ and ‘being scared to go out in public places’. The post-epidemic stage will see the emergence of a new human being, whose daily behavior and thinking will differ from what it was before the Covid-19 outbreak. Don’t be surprised if I say that the political, legal and economic systems will have to adapt accordingly and cater to this new human being. In fact, we will find ourselves faced with a generation who thinks differently from the pre-pandemic generation. Here comes the Covid-19 generation gap! Interesting no! DIGITAL DIVIDE WILL BECOME A CHASM Everyone shifted to working and learning online. Those with connectivity and technology jobs and skills could continue working remotely unaffected during the shelter in place order. Access and ability to work online will become even more important and those who are unable to connect online, will fall further behind economically, hence further deepening the cracks between the so-called ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ segments of the society. OTT & OTHER ENTERTAINMENT CONSUMPTION UPTICK As social isolation intensifies amidst the social distancing and work-from-home measures necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, over-the-top (OTT) and television viewership has jumped. This is mainly attributed to the closure of multiplexes and other entertainment avenues across the country. Research says that there will be increase in subscription for various OTT platforms in near future. Even after Covid-19 is subsided, fear of going to movie theatres and malls will still haunt people, hence they will resort to the options of in-home-entertainment, gaming, OTT, etc. As per recent BARC research, time spent per user on video streaming services is up by 3% and is going to increase further, even post covid-19. HEIGHTENED EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Imagine it’s November 2020. Things are back to normal. We can meet face to face. Travel is possible. Toilet roll is easy to buy. But things have changed. COVID-19 has forever changed the experience of being a consumer, an employee, a family person, a citizen and a human. Expect to see behavior change at scale for some time to come. Pandemics are real and cause deep impact our lives and emotions. Post Covid-19, our dwindled emotions will need some cushion. Focus will be on confidence-building through every channel. Justifiable optimism will sell well. Using Effective Emotional Intelligence, ‘The familiar’ will be more valuable. New social circles may arise based on attitudes to risk — for example, some people may prefer to socialize with others who share the same cautious or intrepid attitudes. Individualism may rise with more people adopting a look-after-yourself-first policy. But at the same time, the heightened emotional intelligence will lead to the swift emergence of “care-mongering” — a new word for looking after your neighbors and those loved ones who are further away. We all know that there is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic will change the face of human society, but it forces us to ask some important questions. Will this change only affect the healthcare systems, or will it extend to consumption patterns, value systems, political regimes and legal systems, thus leading to the fall of the huge financial and economic empires? How much major transformations the world will undergo will be determined by how we recover from the effects of this outbreak. In short, transformation is essential to the COVID-19 recovery. Once the Covid-19 storm will pass, and mankind will survive, despite the loss of many lives, one thing is sure that humankind will soon live in a world that is very different from the one before the virus…a ‘new normal’ has set its foot tight and gradually taking a shape, who knows that ‘social distancing’ may become a longer-term feature in our lives…when and how…only time will tell. Till then, praying for everyone in the world to be safe. (Sonia Sharma is Master’s in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She is a Consumer Behavior Insights professional with more than 10 years of experience in various industries ranging from FMCG, Automobile, Consumer Durables, Pharma, Telecom to Media.) 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