What is a New Norm?
According to URBAN Dictionary, “New Norm” is the current state of being after some dramatic change has transpired. Something replaces the expected, usual, typical state after an event occurs. The new norm encourages one to deal with current situations rather than lamenting what could have been.
In the case of COVID-19 or the Movement Control Order (MCO), we have witness the change of behaviour as well as the way people do their work. Instead of complaining and lamenting about the impact to your business, why don’t we look at the opportunities in the New Norm, I am sure that there are many people who are not responding (whether they are crying babies or just cannot think out of the box) so the earlier you act, the higher your chances.
Here are some of the New Norm that I’ve observed and I believr it’s very useful if you know how to digest these changes:
- More people are going online
- Many were not keen to shop online previously, but under the MCO, they have no choice but to explore shopping for grocery and food;
- More online shoppers are definitely gonna get used to this habits and start to appreciate the convenience.
- Whether you like it or not, online presence is no longer a choice.
- More people are working from home
- Those who do not own an office or used to work in a Co-Working Space is now considering working from home as an option;
- Some have even set aside a corner or a room to make it feel like a workspace, which allows them to work and store documents;
- As virtual meetings are getting more popular and normal, some even set up a good background and video recording system to make it suitable for meeting as well as recording (we will have more and more video content in social media from now on)
- More people are hygiene concern
- Thanks to COVID-19, more and more people acknowledge the importance of washing their hands or sanitisation. Not to mention the face-mask in public space;
- Your business might be directly or indirectly dealing with these, but it’s definitely good to take serious consideration on this. For example, the supply of sanitiser in every corner of your stores, wearing of face-mask by your operation staffs (regardless of whether you are in F&B, health care or any industries that requires them to deal with public;
- Therefore the expectation of cleanness and tidiness in the presence of your retail (if applicable) is gonna be higher than before, take this as your highest priority
- More people are starting to cook at home
- A new habit has been developed by many people (especially men), that cooking may not be as difficult as they thought (set aside the cleaning part);
- This gives an opportunity to a lot of grocery brands to sell pre-prep materials for the ease of cooking;
- This might bring back the old habits of cooking in rotation within the office staffs, thus reduced the amount spent in lunch
- cooking equipment that are designed for the ease of cooking, such as pressure cookers and microwaves are the new toys for many people
- More delivery services are getting outsourced
- Many offices have their own dispatch crew, and they never trust the outsource as their frequency of sending and pick-up documents are rather frequent
- Nevertheless, during the MCO, they have no choice but to look into other alternatives and soon they will realised that the outsource model might be more costs effective and productive;
- Individuals are already getting used to the delivery and pickup by using e-haling services which also helps them in saving traveling time
- Connectivity becomes more important (Data)
- Many in the past who are not a heavy user in mobile data, especially those who only connected to internet using WIFI at home or office, do not subscribe to the idea of mobile data as this is not essential to them;
- More and more people will start to subscribe to mobile data, and start to maximise the use of data, even for the use of calling and using social media applications
- with the government’s effort to introduce 5G and lower the mobile data pricing, the mobile data users/subscribers is definitely going to increase
- More people are gonna use E-wallet
- E-wallet was introduced about 2 years ago, and only became popular recently and still it’s only in major cities;
- with social distancing and thanks to e-commerce, the users of e-wallets is gonna increase
- the incorporation of e-wallet features in your business is definitely a must
- More people are health conscious
- A good immune system is the key in defending yourself from COVID-19 during this critical period. With a strong immune system, chances of recovery is higher than those who are weak
- There will be more people who are willing to invest into supplements and vitamins that helps to strengthen their health
- Foods that are labeled with organic and are health focused are definitely more popular now
- More people learn online
- Online contents are mushrooming. More and more Webminar and online classes are to be offered
- E-learning has take away the geographical restriction and most e-learning has the recording feature, which makes it even more well accepted. Not to mention that the fees are cheaper than the physical classes
There are many more New Norms that has been created during this period. Just be a bit more sensitive, pay more attention to observe the changes around you; make you and your business relevant to these changes. Stop complaining about the PAST losses, focus on the FUTURE.
#entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #sme #newnorm #management #mco