With ‘working from home’ being turned into the new normal, many businesses are struggling to lease out their stores even with a 30% discount applied. Melbourne has found that almost 50% of the usual suburb trotters have stopped looking for a physical store & have converted to the online world. "We used to get 250 customers a day but now we are struggling to get 150 a day," he said (Pranay, owner of a café in Melbourne’s CBD).
Ecommerce business’ in Melbourne alone have shot up by 35% in the last year and it is looking like the number will only rise in the near future. This is due to the fact that people are now saving hundreds and many, even thousands on rent, fees, commute, parking and more. Of course, this is very appealing to Millennials and Generation X.
Many people have converted their business model to fit their new and current needs such as a young gentleman in the northern suburbs, who left his physical coffee shop business to start an online coffee bean business while selling other aiding items. While others, who have had their opinion altered in terms of buying a home or business as an investment, have now turned to stocks, crypto, gold & silver as it is seeming to be less of a risk. "People don't have much money to spend. They are still scared of another lockdown."
Another industry that has taken a large hit is the movie & cinema industry. Many jobs have been cut due to cinemas being closed and even after re-openings, people feel less excited to attend due to the scarcity of being a potential case.
With internet streaming being the talk of the month, even the popcorn stand at your local cinemas has had to bump their prices up by a fifth or a quarter just to make up on lost earnings. This has left many shopping centre stores in uncertainty with their tangible store and had forced many to close down or go online.
We hope everything will turn back normal one day.
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