So many questions, but few answers except for one hugely significant point:
I was sitting in an empty pub last night. Exactly one month ago, this popular venue of choice was completely, heavingly busy. So what has changed? Brexit? Post-Christmas belt tightening? Lots of colds. Or was it caution around Coronavirus?
To say it was Coronavirus seems extreme I admit, but the conversation during the evening touched on whether it was safe to unwrap parcels from China (believe me, these were all intelligent, highly educated people) and then someone in a shop mentioned today that they were worried about touching shipments that had come from China too. They also mentioned that their shop was unusually quiet.
There have been reports that Chinatown in London is as deserted as Wuhan, and that Chinese restaurants everywhere are seeing a decline in customers.
Reacting to customer fears
The question facing the loyalty business is how and when consumer facing businesses should react to customer fears, especially as a retreat from social outings will have a massive impact on many commercial enterprises. Importantly, what role should a loyalty programme play?
Take holidays for example. Are you planning your trip or waiting to see how the virus spreads first? If you cancel a planned holiday, can you get a refund? News on the block is that insurance companies are refusing to pay out on fear of Coronavirus.
Think about the big sales meeting you have planned; Is it still wise to proceed or should you cancel? How long do you leave it before you make a decision?
Sports events are cancelling rapidly, including maybe the Olympics, what else will follow?
Travel
How keen are you to get on a long haul flight right now? Or go to a very large concert? Or what about the daily commute? Feeling uncomfortable yet? Are you wondering about working from home more?
One of the confirmed cases in Hong Kong involved someone working at the Kowloon Commerce Center, a hub of multinational firms, according to an internal note sent to employees at the Bank of America, which has an office in one of the towers.
At least two cruise lines, carrying about 2,500 passengers each have been quarantined because passengers and crew on board tested positive for the Coronavirus.
Cathay Pacific is asking its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave in an emergency move as Hong Kong’s flagship carrier struggles with a financial blow from the coronavirus outbreak in China.
In recent days, the airline has cut nearly all flights to and from mainland China and has said it will pare back flights across its network as it faces its biggest emergency since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009.
“The situation now is just as grave [as the 2009 financial crisis],” Augustus Tang Kin-wing, the chief executive of the airline, said in a taped video recording.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has decimated large parts of the global travel network. Health experts have warned that the fast-moving virus could become a pandemic, and multinational companies have banned nonessential travel to China and indeed to other parts of the world too. The authorities have announced widespread bans on travel for Chinese citizens, but for how long will this be enough?
While airport retail sales had been projected to hit $48.2 billion this year, a healthy spike of 6.1% from 2019, that number may be much less given the severity of the continuing coronovarius outbreak, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.
The main culprit will a drop in travel by Chinese consumers, but cancellations from travellers in other countries seem more and more likely
Loyalty response
In previous crises, such as the Icelandic volcano eruption that led to thousands of cancelled flights and stranded passengers, loyalty companies, with American Express in the fore, worked tirelessly to get their best customers home. Are they going to rise up to the challenge of addressing a world where Coronavirus is shutting down the global economy?
China has said that it demands loyalty from companies that rely on the country for their business, but is this realistic in the current circumstances.
So many questions, but few answers except for one hugely significant point:
The internet, for shopping, socialising, communicating and doing business will be even more important in the next few months than it has ever been. So how is your website? How easy is it for your customers to communicate with you, and what are you doing in terms of communicating with them?
In the online, remote world we are moving into, these are likely to be vitally important questions.
