Two Sides of COVID-19 Outbreak Impact for Business

The new coronavirus version, COVID-19, has made early 2020 such a headache for people around the world. A lot of countries are facing chaotic situations after World Health Organization or WHO declared a global pandemic due to the virus a few months ago. Economy is among the many sectors that are affected by the outbreak. Consumer behaviour changes that impacts the sector.

Within the last two months, Indonesia has seen phenomenon, from panic buying to large-scale restriction for people movement. The Indonesian government has been applying the restriction since last week in Jakarta and is going to conduct the same measures in the cities around the capital.

Apart from health impacts deriving from the virus, workforce and economy are encountering critical points. Thousands of the country’s citizens are laid off while a high number of offline shops or business outlets are closed as people choose to stay indoors.

Golden Time for E-Commerce, Agriculture and Courier Service

As general saying that each event produces “two sides of a coin”, the pandemic paints the same picture. In light of the economic uncertainty, some businesses take advantage during the difficult time.

As people prefer staying at home, they store more food ingredients than before. The agriculture sector reaps benefit from this trend as orders grow. Among products that are sold fast are drinking water, meat, fruit and vegetable.

Courier service also booms as more people choose to shop online. They need more delivery service to keep them minimizing contacts with others outside their houses. E-commerce sector tastes the sweet flavour from the outbreak. More people use online store websites or marketplaces that drive to rising traffic number in that platforms. In turn, online business players see rising sales.

Sluggish Period for Many Business Lines

Unfortunately, more business sectors suffer from the pandemic. Bridal service, for instance, is in uncertainty after their clients have postponed their wedding dates to unspecific time limit. A lot of shopping centres and entertainment venues are temporarily closed. Some hotel and resort managements also stop their businesses for quite some time. Meanwhile, main tourist attractions in Jakarta are still closed. This is despite the Jakarta administration’s decision to have sprayed disinfectants in a lot of parts of the capital since early March 2020.

Let’s be wise in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Please stay at home, stay safe and help each other around us who need it for our common good.