Societies and consumer behaviour could enter a "next normal" phase where on-demand needs of goods and services are serviced instantly through smartphone applications after the pandemic ends.
With many people working from home as part of a global effort to contain the virus outbreak, many of them have changed their consumption habits by turning to extensive use of digital services, particularly through mobile applications, according to an article co-authored by three economists at the Bank of Thailand titled "The Covid-19 crisis and the Next Normal trend of business and transportation."
As business operators are also increasingly using these digital services, a growth opportunity for digital services, such as e-commerce, parcel delivery and online food delivery, is on the rise.
Online food delivery has grown more than three times compared to the same period last year reflected from the Google Trend data of e-commerce and logistics queries and key word searches of parcel delivery and online food delivery, said the article.
Previous studies found that the value of e-commerce businesses grew by 8-10% per year, while express delivery businesses expanded by around 11% annually. Over the past five years, food delivery businesses have seen an average growth of 10% per year.
"After the Covid-19 crisis ends, we may enter 'next normal' where social conditions or consumer behaviour gear towards the era of on-demand whereby users can order products through applications in the blink of an eye," said the article.
"Therefore, the transport business should be ready to adapt to this new business opportunity that will be able to grow as long as people still have their smartphones with them anywhere, anytime."
Although some restaurant operators have already stopped their services for a while following the emergency decree implementation and other virus containment measures, an acceleration in restaurateurs' marketing promotions and consumer's behavioural change should result in an increase of the market value of food delivery services by around 1.2 billion over a month's time, said Kasikorn Research Centre (K-Research).
But those affected from salary cuts or layoffs will use this service to a lesser extent, said the think tank.
The net value of food delivery businesses is estimated at 41 billion baht or a 4% year on-year growth in 2020, according to K-Research.
"After the outbreak is resolved, food delivery will become a new norm for the restaurant business and may be one of the main channels of revenue generation for entrepreneurs," said K-Research.
Businesses experiencing the least impact from the virus outbreak worldwide are consumer services, medicine, healthcare and retail, according to a report by McKinsey & Company.
By contrast, aircraft manufacturing, air transport, tourism, oil and gas businesses, the banking sector and motor vehicle and parts businesses are identified as the most affected businesses from the pandemic.
