Seven key takeaways in a post-coronavirus world

There is no denying that if you are a retailer or retail landlord that operates outside of the supermarket sector, a hotelier or hotel owner or anyone operating within the leisure sphere, the coronavirus pandemic has changed your business beyond recognition. People have stopped visiting, tenants have stopped paying rent and the future has become almost impossible to predict. But every crisis brings with it lessons to learn and new innovations. Here we take a look at what the retail, leisure and logistics sectors can take away from the coronavirus pandemic to create a more positive outlook. 1 Community counts One of the greatest things to come out of the pandemic is people looking out for those who are vulnerable in their community. There is a deeper understanding of place, a greater respect for what we have – or don’t have – on our doorsteps. Creating businesses and places within the retail, leisure or logistics sector where people can connect, that people feel connected to and invested in, can only be a good thing for any business. “Many people will have time to re-evaluate the importance of, and their contribution to, the community they live in as opposed to taking it for granted,” says Justin Taylor, co-founder of niche retail agency P-Three. “This re-evaluation will be in terms of an appreciation and aspiration for the built environment, the strength and resilience of local businesses as well as the social values which are important. These types of things do not need to be temporary arrangements.” 2 You don’t have to be defined by a label Just because you look like a pub, doesn’t mean you have to operate like a pub. We might have had a ban on visiting pubs and restaurants, but that doesn’t mean that those premises have to stop being useful or have to stop being an integral part of British culture. Numerous pubs and restaurants have turned themselves into click and collect food stores, while Scottish brewery Brewdog has recreated all 48 of its closed UK bars as virtual pubs. The online bars aim to give “locals and regulars a chance to reconnect and share a beer”, says Brewdog. At a virtual Brewdog, punters can do beer tastings with the company’s founders, take part in pub quizzes and maybe even try their hand at home brewing. The outbreak over coronavirus and the impact it has had on our ability to go about life as normal has shown how flexible most businesses can be. Don’t be defined by your label, be defined by what your customers need. 3 Pivoting and moving at pace is entirely possible Yoda has always been right. There is no try, only do. For years the retail and leisure sectors in particular – and logistics too as automation and digitisation take hold – have been not the fastest to react to changes in the market. How people acquire goods and services during the crisis has changed entirely. And businesses have had to react fast. Customer service models have had to improve, massively, understanding of consumers’ needs and wants had had to improve, massively, how we get goods and services to where they are needed has had to speed up, massively. But largely it has worked. Retailers that relied on physical interaction with their customers have found new ways to continue to be relevant, with some hairdressers even giving online tutorials (probably in the hope that most people’s will be so terrible that there will be a lot of “please can you fix this mess” haircuts post-Covid). 4 Value can be measured in more ways than money Whether you own a flagship property or a corner shop, the impact of the coronavirus on real estate – like on humans – has not discriminated. Material uncertainty impacts every asset. But value has been revealed to be more than just the financial worth of a building or brand. Value can now be counted as the purpose of a brand, a location and its ability to serve its community. Could this be the moment when ESG becomes a true and accepted measure of value too? 5 Adversity has focused attention Government and local authorities can no longer just commission “how to save the high street” reports in a bid to save the high street. Real action will have to happen post-Covid-19, with combined approaches to deliver places that communities really need. Paul Wilkinson, principal at Avison Young, says: “With many more vacancies and no hope of recovery for the secondary and tertiary pitches, we will probably see much more concerted efforts to do bomb clearance type programmes on large parts of bloated town centres, using CPO powers, with residential-led schemes.” Coronavirus may, despite how crass it sounds, be the catalyst to saving the high street. 6 The great outdoors will be our saviour More and more people have made enjoying the outdoors a key part of their every day. Getting your daily walk, run or cycle in is now parroted as much as making sure we all get our five pieces of fruit and veg a day. Some healthy habits (as well as unhealthy ones – anyone else enjoying the odd glass of wine with dinner a bit too frequently?) will have been formed during the lockdown, which could provide a much-needed boost for retailers and leisure operators when the pandemic has passed. A new love for hiking may mean more kit needs to be bought, that odd 5k becoming a plan to do a marathon means new trainers and we will all be so desperate to see more than just our back yards, that all of the beautiful tourist traps, those plush national parks of ours, will be calling us. And we will go. Frequenting the restaurants, bars and shops that will need – and welcome back – our patronage. 7 R.E.S.P.E.C.T and giving – we’ve found out what it really means If there is one key takeaway from the impact that coronavirus has had on the UK (and global) populace, it is that people have largely learnt what respect means and who deserves it most. We’ve seen leaders of many large businesses realise that they should forfeit their large pay packets to make sure that the workers in their businesses aren’t left high and dry. Marriott Hotels’ chief executive Arne Sorenson has stopped taking a salary for the balance of 2020 with the executive board taking a 50% pay cut, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts boss Geoff Ballotti has dropped his base salary to zero, and the chief executive of Kurt Geiger has given up his £500,000-a-year salary until the shoe retailer’s shops reopen. Neil Clifford says: “It’s a small sacrifice. It’s the only thing I could have done. I wanted to send a message to my staff that we are all in this together. I probably earn 30 times more than one of our employees so I am super lucky and I didn’t feel I could go on drawing my salary at a time like this.” They are not lone examples. Couple that with the number of businesses that have raised relief funds for workers in their own firms, key workers and the vulnerable, and business suddenly seems to have uncovered a newfound respect for the people who really keep the wheels turning in business. A market that comes out of coronavirus not just customer-focused, but employee-focused, can only be a good thing. Pictured: Punch Bar and Tapas co-owner and chef Wayne Roddis prepares meals for NHS workers Photo: Adam Vaughan/Shutterstock To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette