The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on how businesses operate due to both the existence of the virus and the policies that governments have taken to curb its spread. State-required closures are among the most significant effects from the business’s perspective, and mask mandates are some of the most widespread outcomes. It is unclear how long the changes will last or which will prove more resilient than others, but for now, firms have to cope with the current situation. Some cannot do so and have to close, contributing to the massive economic damage of the pandemic, while others, such as Amazon, are well-adapted to a pandemic situation and have seen their turnover rise dramatically. This essay will discuss the social, economic, and technological “new normal” of COVID-19 in its relation to businesses.
The pandemic’s most prominent social effect is not the death toll or the infection rate, both of which are relatively minor if viewed from a pragmatic standpoint. Instead, it is the refusal by people to visit businesses that operate in person, both voluntary and otherwise. Many people are worried about contracting the condition and try to minimize their visits outdoors, which typically means they will not be visiting many of their usual destinations. Meanwhile, as in New York (Hicks & Hogan, 2020), many governments are restricting their citizens from visiting particular businesses altogether, which also drives traffic down. The same applies to workers, and a company that has many employees ill with COVID-19 may be particularly imperiled in its operations.
Those people who are still willing and able to provide their patronage to businesses are less capable of doing so than before. The pandemic and the associated lockdowns have contributed to a dramatic economic downturn that has left people unemployed or furloughed en masse. Tracking the COVID-19 recession’s effects (2020) finds that 26 million adults in the U.S. claim that their households cannot afford basic food needs. Occupied with these problems, such people are unlikely to consider non-essential purchases. As such, businesses have lost customers, and their revenue has decreased correspondingly, making issues such as bankruptcy more likely to emerge.
Lastly, the technological effects have to be considered, as traditional brick-and-mortar businesses have had to rapidly embrace remote technologies to stay solvent under lockdown conditions. Per Hatfield (2020), this shift has resulted in improved convenience in areas such as information delivery and communication, with businesses that adapted in time implementing QR code menus, parking apps, and touch-free payment options while also embracing communication over services such as Zoom. Not all companies have been able to survive the pandemic, but those that did will likely perform better in the future.
Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a stressful time for businesses, especially those who were unprepared for it and the lockdowns associated with it. The latter, in particular, have likely contributed to the closures of numerous smaller companies that could not transfer to an online format in time. Moreover, regardless of their size, most firms saw their revenues decrease amid the overall economic downturn as they started seeing fewer customers. However, the changes have also necessitated a rapid evolution among the businesses that survived the initial wave of closures. Whether these changes’ positive effects will linger after the pandemic and whether the negative outcomes of COVID-19 will remain in place alongside the improvements remains to be seen.
References
Hatfield, A. (2020). 7 ways technology is helping small businesses during COVID-19. The Dallas Morning News.
Hicks, N., & Hogan, B. (2020). Gov. Cuomo orders restaurants, bars to close at 10 p.m. amid COVID-19 uptick. New York Post.
Tracking the COVID-19 recession’s effects on food, housing, and employment hardships. (2020). Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.