- COVID-19
- Since the inception of COVID-19 in December 2019, the world of business has been impacted negatively, despite the few positive advances in the economy. The retailing sectors, goods, and services have been greatly hit, unlike other sectors that apply the contingent uncertainties to their liabilities and assets as per the IAS 37. First, most shopping centers worldwide responded to the pandemic by reducing the number of hours they used to operate. In most cases, businesses used to boom late in the evening; unfortunately, the shop attendants had to lose all that income by closing a bit early, unlike their norm. For instance, since March 2018, there was a clear footfall in shopping centers by at least 30% of their total income caused by the increased levels of demand despite the reduced supply of the finished goods for resale. This finally resulted in the empty shelves, since most manufacturing organizations did not proceed as anticipated, due to the risk of uncertainties. Despite the negative impact, the businesses were positively favorable through the employment of contactless application methods in their business. For instance, the online methods of payment turned out to increase transparency and accountability to the accountants. The use of information technology in operation for the retail business has economically promoted businesses worldwide. Finally, the market forces were able to determine the prices and the quantity of the goods and services during the operation hours.
- COVID -19 has increased the demand for safety products, thus creating a favorable impact on the Health Care sector. This form of demand has created a unitary form of elasticity in the health care system since the demand is too high, unlike the opted supply. The health of the individuals has been paramount, thus creating a looming demand for the products to keep the individuals and their families during these pandemic times. In most cases, the retail sector supply has decreased tremendously, causing havoc in the market, thus stretching the demand curve a bit too far, unlike the shrinking supply. Therefore, it is through the unitary form of a demand that causes increased levels of elasticity in the demand of the products.
On the other hand, some industries like the transport sector face an adverse impact on the market.
Since the discovery of COVID-19, the containment measures introduced the working from home, stay at home, social distance, or even the lockdown in some states, including Hong Kong, thus greatly affecting the transport industry. For instance, the Indian railway transportation was greatly hit globally, where the income declined by 40%. The luxury industries face high levels of externalities since people are focusing on their Kin’s food and health. No individual purchasing luxury products, meaning that the industry is among the worst hit, despite having employees are expecting salary from their employer by the end of the month. Therefore, it is evident that the pandemic has created a rift between various industries in the market, depending on the demand and the supply levels that their elasticity, on various levels of their expectation.
(C.)
A market is where people meet and make agreements while looking forward to settling the prices between the buyer and seller through the available avenues of communication. It can be a physical meeting or even through the online platform since business is conducted globally. For the supermarket, food is supplied by the farmers who have to do their negotiation directly with the available outlets. It means that they will have to communicate directly or through the available quotation to aid in the business. It is evident that after the pandemic, there will be a flourishing market since the number of opportunities will rise tremendously. The shoppers will; have to return to their customers; while there will be an introduction of new stores that will be opened to help carry the business. However, there is a possibility of the pandemic either changing them for the better or even for worse, since most shops are now changing to e-commerce. This is because; there are increased instances of the e-store, which facilitates the operation on the day to day basis, thus creating the avenue, in terms of portion. Through the new normal, the businesses will be operating to increase their profit levels from time to time. Therefore, it is predicted that the face-to-face form of the market would greatly decline, thus increasing the online form of the market with the delivery of goods and services at the doorstep of the customer.