It passed a while since I wrote my last article. We are in a full Covid-19 Pandemic, many countries are in lockdown, many businesses are forced to close their operations only essential businesses are open.
It is a tough, difficult, and challenging period for many businesses. In today's article, I will present my personal solutions for industries and businesses that is been affected most by Covid-19.
The level of the impact differs from industry to industry, from businesses to businesses. If some industries are badly affected some industries less or even become more prosperous.
I will analyze only the industries that are most affected by Covid19.
As you can see in the image above the S&P Global Market Intelligence has done research on the industries that are most affected by Covide 19. The most affected industries are airlines, leisure, oil and gas, auto parts& Equipment, and Restaurants.
In this article, we analyze and come out with solutions in my view only the industries that are affected most. The industries that I will choose for this topic are Retail, Food, and Beverage, Hospitality Industry, and Travel Industry. So let's get dive into it
1 Retail Industry
(Retail Shops, Shops, Non-essential shops)
The retail industry is one of the industries that is affected by Covid-19 restrictions. The truth is those essential businesses are affected less than non-essential. Non-essential businesses are forced to close due to restrictions. For those businesses, the only helping solutions came from the Government. The Government provides Covid19 pandemic payments. The level of the payment differs from the size of the businesses and in which country the businesses are based.
My solution
If you are the owner of the shop who does not get any pandemic payment, the online solution to keep alive your business is to Go Online.
Going Online means the first start building a digital asset. The most important digital asset for every business is the website. My suggestion is: if your business does not have a website, I suggest to create a platform where you can sell your products. If your businesses have a website and do not convert, my advice is to update and optimize existing content. Social Media platforms are also ideal for promoting your business online. Here are some recommendations I don't go too deep on how to do digital marketing.
2 Food and Beverage
We can include this category businesses like restaurants, pubs, night clubs, and coffee shops.
Restaurants
Like many other businesses, restaurants are one of the businesses that are most affected by Covid 19.
My Solutions:
Managing this kind of business on Covid-19 Pandemic differ from the level of restrictions from country to country. If for example, your business is operating in a country where the government has eased some restrictions, a restaurant business can operate under normal conditions, but keeping social distance.
If your restaurant business is facing severe restrictions and can not operate under normal conditions, the only solution is to change the business model and transform it into a Food Delivery Business.
The transition from a restaurant to a food delivery business can be done. In the lockdown period, many restaurants have transformed into a food delivery business with success.
Pubs
The situation with pubs is a bit different from restaurants. If in some countries pubs remain closed during the Covid19 restrictions in some countries when the government ease restrictions let the pubs open for businesses. The only source for pubs to survive, like in restaurants cases are government payments. However, is a big difference in selling alcohol under-delivery business is prohibited in many countries. We took out this solution from the equation.
My Solutions:
Selling Stuff Online
When I say "selling stuff online" I don't mean alcohol as you probably think. Pubs are places designed for selling alcohol. Pubs have different characteristics and traditions from country to country. One example that I have in mind are Irish pubs. Irish pubs are promoters of Irish traditions, they promote the culture, music, and lifestyle of Ireland.
A business like this can take advantage of that by trying to promote traditions, culture, and lifestyle instead of selling alcohol. Temple Bar is a well know place in Dublin where you can find famous pubs.
If you are a pub owner you can try something to keep your businesses by selling different souvenirs online.
VR and Augmented Reality
In full Covid-19 Pandemic with many restrictions imposed by governments, creating a virtual world is the only solution that seems it will work, excepting social distancing that I have some doubts about the efficiency. VR technologies are in the early stage of development. I consider those technologies will have a huge impact on the near future.
From a pub business perspective creating a virtual world where you can feel and live the sensation of an Irish pub. Imagine what feeling you will have to be in a virtual world that replicates exactly The Temple Bar with traditional Irish music.
To be feasible first you need to be able to develop a Virtual Reality application, that can be accessed from a headset.
3 Hospitality Industry
In the hospitality industry, we can include businesses like: (Hotels, Resorts, Hostels and so on)
Is one of the industries that is been hit by the Covid19 Pandemic. Despite the introduction of restrictions, these businesses are still open for businesses. However, even if the businesses are open their profit margin is severely impacted. What can be done in this case? The answer not to many options. Even the options are few, I believe we should exploit them.
My Solutions:
Food Delivery Businesses
A hotel from example can easily transform the business model in food delivery businesses. In general, hotels provide food for their existing customers. I don't see any reasons why a hotel can not be converted to a delivery food business.
Selling Souvenirs Online
You can find hotels everywhere in the world. If you are based in a country that has traditions why you don't try to promote and sell it. Creating an online platform where you can sell different souvenirs that are representative of your country is a good solution. You might say: Well The income that you can get from selling these souvenirs will be enough to cover operating costs?
The answer is no, but I remember you that this kind of business is still open. So you can get an important percentage of your turnover from bookings.
VR & Augmented Reality
This kind of application can help to improve the user experience. I will give an example, Imagine you are a US citizen and want to book a hotel in Ireland Dublin. The person that is interested in making the booking can feel the experience of the hotel in a virtual world. If he likes the experience the probability to make the booking will be higher.
4 Travel Industry
The travel industry is big and includes many types of businesses. I will take only a few types of businesses. The businesses that I will choose will be Travel Agencies and Cruise Shipping Line.
Cruise Shipping Line
One of the industries that were hit badly by Covid19. It was sad to see companies that are liquidated and no longer exist and ships that are dismantled. I have friends that are working in the industry and I know how sad they are about this situation. For a cruise shipping line business there are not too many solutions that can be implemented to keep the business alive.
My Solution
VR & Augmented Reality
Living the experience of Cruise Line Shipping in a virtual world is not something S.F. Immersive VR Education is a software company based in Ireland dedicated to transforming how training and educational content is delivered and consumed. In the video above you have one of the applications developed by the company to recreate a virtual world for Titanic.
Having said that. Why some important cruise shipping line businesses like Royal Caribbean for example will not develop this kind of application to recreate the life of cruise shipping in a virtual world. Developing VR technologies can also help cruise shipping businesses to improve User Experience before somebody can make a booking.
Travel Agencies
Are also one of the businesses hit hard by Covid19 restrictions. For this kind of business like cruise shipping businesses, there are not too many solutions that can be done to keep this kind of business alive.
VR & Augmented Reality
To feel the experience to be in the Maldives or Seychelles from your headset is something that can make travel agencies around the world think seriously. Creating a virtual world for the Maldives islands for example is something that will improve the experience for potential users.
In conclusion, these are my solutions to how businesses can survive the Covid-19 Pandemic. I'm not saying that are feasible or will work 100 % but sometimes is far better to try to do something rather than nothing.
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