A New Era - The Convenience Revolution
By Christpher Levarek
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”
Henry Ford
In March 2020, I wrote an post on a BiggerPockets forum where I expressed an interesting concept. Already the changes relative to the ongoing Covid pandemic were in full swing and I presented a possible scenario for our economy and employment sectors.
Here is a snip-it of that post from March 31 2020 :
“Throughout history, work industries and employment are defined by technology innovations and shifts. Some examples are the Financial-agricultural revolution (1600–1740), the Industrial Revolution (1780-1840) and the Digital Revolution (1975-2020).
Covid19 has closed down specific industries and employment is shifting already. Those who worked in retail, tourism, restaurants and hotels are shifting to new employment opportunities in the "convenience" or even "automation" space. Labor is shifting to delivery services (Amazon), UPS, etc. Companies such as Netflix, EA games, Outschool(Online Learning), Zoom, Slack and other online service providers are hiring and seeing interesting positive repercussions. Will this shift cement in the already strong online delivery/remote services and kick off a "Convenience" Revolution?
One which shifts employment to these sectors of remote convenience, increases automation processes and further encourages the use of online or delivery services. “
The reason why I highlight this post is that it appears that this shift is indeed happening. If one thing the COVID pandemic has done, it has shined a light on new possibilities for employment which will not only cut costs for companies but increase efficiency. This is altering employment sectors and shifting employees to delivery services, online service providers and remote work at home permanent solutions.
Twitter and Square are now allowing all employees are able to Work From Home permanently, even after the end of a pandemic or quarantine. Google and Facebook followed suit allowing all employees to work from home until the end of 2020 and Microsoft extended work-at-home to October 2020.
According to TechRepublic, about 17% of the HR leaders in some 2,284 US companies reported their organizations will move to permanent work-from-home policies in the future for their employees.
Not only are we shifting in how we work, we are changing how we buy. As major retail stores such as JC Penny, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus and Pier 1 Imports file bankruptcy and close their stores, online shopping is continuing to fill the void. In fact, Facebook/Instagram is seizing this opportunity to gain hold with their new flagship, Facebook Shop. This will enable businesses to, through the Facebook Shop, offer products and sell online.
Change is inevitable and sometimes it takes a spark to light the fire whether through a pandemic or major technology breakthrough. We can expect industry employment to shift and new opportunities to be created in place of the old. Will these be permanent shifts or simple momentary movements before things adjust back to normal?
In my opinion, with all the new opportunity and light being shown on the potential for working at home and purchasing from home, it will be hard to move back for companies or employee.
The true potential for the entrepreneur or real estate investor becomes how does one provide a product or service that aligns with this shift or even precedes it. Invest Smart!