Seeing the opportunities in the problem.
Thanks to a number of factors including the Covid-19, Coronavirus pandemic, it is quite likely that a recession is coming. With doom and gloom predicted for the global and local economy, lets examine the business lessons and the opportunities in the Covid-19 problem.
"This downturn is fundamentally a supply shock which, in turn, is creating a demand shock. Its root cause is Covid-19 so how the behaviour of individuals, globally, to this shock evolves will ultimately determine the economic path from here on in. Policymakers can only hope to smooth the process," BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said on Monday.
The most obvious business impacts
that we have seen during China's
handling of the pandemic.
PROBLEM: TEAM ISOLATION
SOLUTION: REMOTE COLLABORATION
As working populations self-isolate or become quarantined, corporate offices will either need to make the shift to deploy technology to facilitate remote collaboration or they will be forced to shut their operations down for up to 3-months.
Chinese corporations adopted an agile approach to deescalate isolation through audio visual connection and real-time document platforms like Microsoft Office365, Microsoft TEAMS, Microsoft TODO, Microsoft Planner and WeChatWork.
Western companies engaging China are making the shift to agile methodology (scrum) based remote collaboration with both their Western and Eastern personnel.
To give you just a few examples, companies are learning to use remote collaboration platforms across business processes, such as,
KAWO for content,
Grata for customer experience management,
ZOOM for video conferencing,
WeChatGROUPS for business development and sales funnels,
Canva for graphics and design,
Wix and Wordpress for remote web development,
Sinorbis for BAIDU SEO,
Click Meeting for online seminars and
CapsuleCRM.
PROBLEM: OFFLINE LEARNING STOPS
SOLUTION: ONLINE LEARNING STARTS
Chinese educators made the shift to the emeneo platform called "Chocolate", a Learning Management System for engaging students behind the Great Firewall of China.
RCN has increased demand to support clients to make the shift from offline education-tourism to LMS (Online - Learning Management Systems). The shift to remote, online learning provides economies of scale, at high cost efficiency and improves education productization by meeting the increased online consumer appetite for self-paced, on-demand learning that fits into daily lifestyle.
PROBLEM: BOREDOM
SOLUTION: INFOTAINMENT
We also know that online engagement increased exponentially, as workers and citizens have sought to engage in online activities to reduce their boredom. We can expect unprecedented levels of online engagement. Contrary to the belief of many corporations that thought it was a waste of time to communicate during the crisis, people caught at home were bored-out-of-their-minds and developed a voracious apetitite for content.
Take a look at this article by emarketer,
examining the impacts on retail, along with the
growth opportunities and consumer behavioral changes.
Time Spent Online and with TV Increasing
as Consumers Fight Boredom at Home
Places of entertainment like movie theaters and theme parks have been shut down to prevent the spread of the virus, which has already altered online behavior for China's consumers. According to QuestMobile, daily time spent with mobile internet rose from 6.1 hours in early January to 6.8 hours during Lunar New Year. It rose even further to 7.3 hours after the holidays, when workers were placed in self-quarantine. Aside from increases in mobile internet usage, traditional media is getting a boost, too. Stats from Nielsen-CCData show that TV viewership grew after Lunar New Year—when there would normally be a dip. (SOURCE: emarketer)
PROBLEM: BRICKS & MORTAR SALES DECLINE
SOLUTION: ONLINES SALES GROW QUICKLY
Online Grocery Sales Multiply,
Food Delivery Apps Innovate
Housebound consumers in China are turning to online groceries for their daily food supply. According to French retailer Carrefour, vegetable deliveries increased by 600% year over year during the Lunar New Year period. Chinese online retailer JD.com reported that its online grocery sales grew 215% year over year to 15,000 tons during a 10-day period between late January and early February. Concerns about food delivery due to possible food contamination have spurred recent innovation in contactless pickup and delivery services. Companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks are increasing delivery services that limit human-to-human contact, and orders are packaged to keep them free of contamination. (SOURCE: emarketer.)
It's not the big that eat the small,
it's the fast that eat the slow.
As Western consumers also make the shift to online,
fast thinking business leaders will leverage
the opportunity in the problem.
At Red Circle Network we expect to see
scrappy challenger brands take on
established brands in local and
mainland Chinese markets.
Agile business leaders will leverage the opportunity
to migrate to connective technologies, adapting to
infotainment-influencer style content marketing
and aggressively acquire the customers of
their slow moving competitors.
CONCLUSION
Success (or failure) will come down to the fact that some leaders may become bogged down by fiscal conservatism of cost reduction, which is a zero sum game, because if income declines to zero, cost reduction is a failed policy. Other leaders may be more proactive, embracing their entrepreneurialism to become an agile brand that successfully leverages the 2020 shift to online; and to forging direct relationships with their consumers. Article by @Glyn MacLean RCN Sherpa | Contact.