Trends to follow in the new normal

I wrote about life post coronavirus in my blog post a couple days ago, Post CoVid-19: The new normal. I wrote about the opportunities that will be available in the post coronavirus world which I call the new normal.

I wanted to follow-up on that post and write about some of the trends that I have been seeing that people out there will be able to capitalize on.

Some of these trends may be brutally obvious while others will seem like a reach. Of course, a lot of these may never materialize in the new normal. Given that, only a handful of people in this world has ever seen a global pandemic like CoVid-19 and it’s naive to think that life will go back to being the same after the dust settles.

My list and observations as of today:

  • Hygienic standards will be raised. It was a rude wake up call to the world, but perhaps we needed a reminder that you should wash your hands often and cough into your arm. Germs/viruses have always been spread this way, but it took a global pandemic for us to take it seriously. Look for people to react much differently to bad hygiene and for companies to take advantage and make it easier to be hygienic. Anyone want a sink that automatically plays a song that lasts 20 seconds to make us wash our hands better?

  • Masks have been widely used in Asian countries to prevent the spread of germs. Contrary to belief here in the U.S., most use these masks so they don’t spread their own germs to others, not to necessarily protect themselves. I would not be surprised to see masks starting to become the new norm here in the U.S., much like it has been in Japan, Korea, and China. I’m looking forward to those $200 Supreme masks everywhere.

  • Simple things such as doorknobs, elevator buttons, and iPads at checkout will be reconsidered. The new normal will see a large infusion of touchless technology. May we see a resurgence of using your feet to do things such as turning on the water or opening doors?

  • Retail stores will continue to trend downwards overall. More and more people will switch from going to stores like Target to purely shopping online. BUT this opens the door the small box retailers. While large stores like Target, Walmart, etc. will start to disappear as they go more and more online, the small mom and pop stores will see a resurgence to fill the need of people who like to shop.

  • Expect to see start-ups tackling mass and clear communication across large groups of people. This is the first global crisis since perhaps the Cold War. There is not a clear cut way and easy way for authorities and officials to communicate to everyone in an effective way. South Korea created a coronavirus app so the government can communicate and provide guidelines to their citizens. It’s about time for America to step up and do the same when the next crisis comes.

  • Office space was becoming less and less common. The future of work will be less time in offices and more time working from home and other communal spaces. While this trend was already in full force, expect covid to accelerate this.

  • May we see a resurgence of community soon? The advent of technology such as television, video games, and smart phones has seemingly made us more distant. Potential catastrophic events such as CoVid-19 will bring us closer together. I saw a sign the other day of someone in my neighborhood volunteering to help the elderly with groceries and food. I see business owners on Twitter dedicating their factories and offering free food to healthcare workers. People are looking to donate their stimulus checks on the internet. I suspect to see more and more startups that help people get off their phones and get together in their communities.

  • For the first time in perhaps the world’s history, we are seeing the entire globe connect against a common enemy. We will soon see the power we can unlock when we work together against that common enemy. Globalization enabled this widespread pandemic. Globalization will also be the reason we end it. Expect to see even more globalization and connectivity in the world. The first part of Trump’s presidency was marked with America first and trade wars. Perhaps a global pandemic is what we needed to tear down walls and start working with each other better.

I plan to continue to write more about these topics as the new normal takes place. It’s an interesting time to be alive.