“Returning to normal daily life” 

Are we? Can we really see life returning to normal? I am sure for some of us, the small irregularities of which we will all soon become accustomed to, are minor if not “unnoticeable”, but however small the changes are, shifts in the consumer behaviour can mean BIG changes within our businesses. 

I recently came across some news in the cinema world. According to The Wall Street Journal –  AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, the world’s largest movie-theatre chain, registered a $2.2 billion net loss in the first quarter of 2020, and with home streaming figures rising on platforms such as Netflix and Disney+, it will be a minor miracle if they recover fully from this pandemic. 

It is currently said that smaller cinemas are likely to close, unable to meet new government guidelines. Instead, any cinema-goers will need to travel, and due to demand may even have a limited selection of films of which to pick. 

Will this ease the door open for home streaming? Will the trend die out completely? Cinema ticket prices seem extortionate compared to monthly streaming costs although, you are paying for an ‘experience’ that’s just not possible to replicate when sitting in your lounge. Still, price is just one major barrier the cinema world must contend with if they are to rebound from this crisis and emerge profitable in an environment very different from the one they operated in before. 

A World Lived Online 

During the pandemic, as a marketing agency, we very quickly noticed a drop off in our clients within the medicine and wellness industry. Obviously, all human to human contact professions ground to a halt, however, all of our e-Commerce clients became overrun! Online shopping rates continue to grow by 129% week-on-week in the UK and Europe.

Most online purchases have been for food, medical/healthcare and cleaning products, however as we have gone through the last 10 weeks, other sectors such as fashion have slowly picked up the pace.

As we emerge from lockdown, we believe it is very unlikely that our new found love for online shopping will change. 

Convenience, our love for mobile devices and ever-evolving user experience will see to that.

What does this mean for the healthcare and wellness industry?

Privately owned companies are going to have to work that little bit harder to prise consumers out from their homes! 

As predicted, anxiety levels around the easing of government guidelines have forced some of our clients to offer a more personalised as well as a ‘virtual’ service, such as home visits or video consultation. 

Our advice would be to really think outside the box, consider the change in customer demands and try to meet them halfway. Even if its a knock out offer they simply can not refuse, as a business trying to get back to where you were, now is the time to concentrate on getting those consumers back 

You are not the only one 

Remember, there has been a significant shift in consumer behaviour for all business. Now is the time to address your website, your advertising, and you’re overall online presence before you get drowned out by all the noise.

The market place has changed, and it is very unlikely to change back to how it was before. 

Need more advice? Get in touch today!