Technology and Digital Growth under Coronavirus Outbreak
Human-to-human contact is easily affected by unpredictable circumstances. Responding to this epidemic, digitization grows more than ever.
Impacts: F&B, Brick-and-Mortar Retail Stores, Tourism, Entertainment, etc.
Under the epidemic, the F&B industry had the biggest impact. During the Spring Festival, for example, companies canceled spring feasts or business banquets, causing restaurants to temporarily shut their business down. Starbucks, Haidilao, McDonald’s and other F&B industries also decided to close some stores in China.
Not only the F&B industry, but Apple also suspended its operation in China, affecting nearly 1 million mobile phone sales. In Taiwan, the department stores’ customers and sales performance have decreased significantly as well. According to the observation by Retailers Association of Chinese Taipei, customers in department stores has decreased by about 20% since February, and its performance has been affected by within 10%.
As the epidemic spread worldwide, the tourism industry was hit hard as well, resulting in the closing down of hostels, a sharp drop in hotel visitors, and a loss to the aviation industry.
Many industries, such as financial and insurance industry, have started emergency measures. In addition to graded emergency measures to protect their own employees, they ensure the operations are not interrupted. In order to reduce the actual contact between people, they also decided to digitize the management and service processes.
Enterprises with a large number of consumers should actively respond to the epidemic situation and digitization, in order not to be continuously affected by irresistible factors. The digital changes and trends under the outbreak are listed below.
Digital Transformation and Trends
1. Online entertainment and an increase in mobile users.
Online entertainment and mobile users have increased significantly during the five-day Chinese New Year holidays this year. Meanwhile, box office in Taiwan cinemas has dropped by an average of 30% compared to previous years.
People try to avoid public entertainment places such as movie theaters and amusement parks in order to keep safe. Therefore, entertainment activities are mainly online, such as streaming video and online games; the use of entertainment videos and game apps has also grown significantly. According to QuestMobile, the average mobile internet usage hours during and after Chinese New Year increased from 6.1 hours to 7.3 hours.
2. Online shopping apps; digitization without time limit.
PChome shares that since February, foods and daily necessities orders have been 3.7 times more than last year, and the content of ordered products is also more various. Online shopping is an important way during an epidemic prevention period, and shopping apps allow consumers to shop online wherever and whenever they are.
Department stores and hypermarkets are also responding fast. For example, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi launched its shopping app; iBuy and Carrefour developed their online shopping. In addition to the shopping app, in this epidemic, iBuy and Carrefour further cooperated with food delivery platforms to deliver fresh products.
Otaku Economy (Stay at Home Economic) is growing remarkably. In addition to online e-commerce, mastering in mobile-friendly and apps is also a key point for the brands to develop or optimize.
3. Communication platforms and digitized management.
Some companies have begun to implement remote working for epidemic prevention. In addition to the communication platforms used for work, personnel management also needed to be fully digitized. As a result, software and apps for remote communications, meetings and personnel management has increased strikingly. Downloads of the online meeting software such as Zoom and Skype have skyrocketed.
4. Unmanned Coffee Machines and Digitized Ordering in the F&B industry.
In order to reduce actual contact between people, in addition to food delivery services, some owners are interested in unmanned coffee machines and automated ordering machines. In some conveyor belt sushi restaurants, the way customers taking sushi from the sushi trail has been replaced temporarily by the staff taking orders on tablets for them. The digitized ordering method reduces evitable contact, improving food hygiene and safety.
Summary: Digitization and optimize user experience on mobile
Facing the unpredictable coronavirus, enterprises should adopt prevention measures, digitize services and management to minimize impacts and safety concerns. Online entertainment, mobile shopping, communication platforms, and unmanned machines, various industries have adopted comprehensive digital services. Internet and technology allow people to shop and work without concerns. At the same time, focus on the mobile-friendly experiences of the Apps or websites.
References：
Deloitte
數位時代：PChome成長
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