After #CoronaVirus
The 2020 Corona Virus will pass into the pages of history along with the 1918 Spanish Flu
The world will be different
- Will the South be less huggy?
- Will people keep washing their hands?
- Will GrubHub, DoorDash, ChowNow, ... be the new FANG?
The big changes will be where #shelter reinforced a trend
- Dying Malls
- Dying Car Dealers
- Electronification of financial business
- Dying retail brands
Dying Malls
This one is interesting! We can count on a flood of teens as soon as the #shelter orders are lifted. But, can the malls survive as teen social centers? Will they all close? Probably no, but the herd will be winnowed and the survivors will be different. See Malls are dying. The thriving ones are spending millions to reinvent themselves. and Shopping Malls Aren't Dying - They're Evolving
Dying Car Dealers
The car dealer model was, essentially, destroyed in 2008 when the bailouts added the term "Government Motors" to the American lexicon. Buying a car, in America, was never a fun thing - it always involved a feeling of being manipulated, robbed, screwed - because you were. CarVana, ... offers a different experience - more in line with today's world and now massively reinforced by #shelter. See The future of car shopping is online: Ditch dreaded price negotiations and cut the hassle and Find the Best Online Car Buying Sites
Electronification* of financial business
Another already-in-place trend, supercharged by #coronavirus. #FinTech has, for the past decade, been mostly about replacing paper forms with "e-apps". It has been delayed by cost, resistance to change, ...
Suddenly, it's about survival and it's about how the business is run, how clients are "touched", how new agents are recruited, trained, mentored, ... AND IT'S NOT OPTIONAL.
An interesting statistic which emphasizes the fact "virtual financial business is not telesales". People have been violently reminded of their mortality and they have no one to talk with about that very scary feeling. See Quote Requests to Insurance Agencies Down 30% Since Coronavirus Shutdowns
Here's a quick look at the transition to digital: [link]
The changes in this area affect agencies, agents and clients. Will, in the end be better served, because these changes will winnow the herd - the old, weak and inflexible will not survive. Both clients and agents will need to clearly understand the likelihood of their agency surviving.
*Made up word ;-)
Dying retail brands
We all know Sears is gone. Does anyone remember Montgomery Ward? "Bricks & Mortar" retail has been under pressure from Amazon for years. That pressure has be mitigated by habit / resistance to change.
That mitigation has been reduced massively by #shelter!!! People have been FORCED to learn how to order toilet paper online! And, they've learned that having the toilet paper delivered to your front step costs the same or less vs driving to the store.
See The bankruptcies that rocked the retail industry in 2019 and Why Some Brick-and-Mortar Retail Stocks Are Falling Today
The world is officially different and we don't have a clue how different