Page 150 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

trimester spent watching their professors on their screens, will
they start questioning the high cost of education?

To grasp the extreme complexity and uncertainty of this
evolution in consumer behaviour, let us revert to the example of
online shopping versus in-person retail. As stated, it is very likely
that bricks-and-mortar stores will lose out severely in favour of
online shopping. Consumers may be willing to pay a bit extra to

have heavy and bulky products, like bottles and household goods,
delivered to them. Supermarket retail space will therefore shrink,
coming to resemble convenience stores where shoppers go to

buy relatively small quantities of specific food products. But it
could also be the case that less money will be spent in
restaurants, suggesting that in places where a high percentage of
people’s food budget traditionally went to restaurants (60% in New
York City for example), these funds could be diverted to and

benefit urban supermarkets as city dwellers rediscover the
pleasure of cooking at home. The same phenomenon may
happen with the entertainment business. The pandemic may

increase our anxiety about sitting in an enclosed space with
complete strangers, and many people may decide that staying
home to watch the latest movie or opera is the wisest option. Such
a decision will benefit local supermarkets to the detriment of bars
and restaurants (although the option of online takeout meal

delivery services could be a lifeline for the latter). There were
numerous examples of this happening in an ad hoc fashion in
cities across the world during lockdowns. Could it perhaps

become an important element of some restaurants’ new post-
COVID-19 business-survival plan? There are other first-round
effects that are much easier to anticipate. Cleanliness is one of
them. The pandemic will certainly heighten our focus on hygiene.
A new obsession with cleanliness will particularly entail the

creation of new forms of packaging. We will be encouraged not to
touch the products we buy. Simple pleasures like smelling a melon
or squeezing a fruit will be frowned upon and may even become a

thing of the past.

A single attitudinal change will have many different
ramifications, each having a particular effect on one specific

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