It’s 2021. Now what?

You may be the kind of person who dives head-first into business articles, or you may be like everyone else: just give me the one-minute recap. Well, when it comes to predicting (or at least intelligently guessing) how your spending, travelling, and working ideas may unfold this year, we’ve summarised the dot points and the details for you.

The January 2021 report from McKinsey and Company, The next normal arrives: Trends that will define 2021—and beyond (read it here), is quick to read, but packed with useful ideas that capture what business leaders and consumers need to be aware of as they respond to the changing business environment.

Here are a few of the key points, but it is well worth taking a few minutes to read the report in full:

• The consumer rebound is coming as consumer confidence returns (“revenge shopping” is the term coined for this).
• Leisure travel will bounce back, but business travel will lag. It is highly likely technology will replace some onsite meetings and conferences, as there is a long-term structural change in business travel.
• Internationally, a new wave of innovation and a new generation of entrepreneurs have launched. Many new small businesses have developed in many countries as people moved into their own businesses. Both the United States and the United Kingdom have seen significant increases in the number of new business registrations in 2020.
• The great acceleration in the use of technology, digitisation, and new forms of working is going to be sustained, with the challenge to move from reacting to the crisis and institutionalising what has been done so far.
• The changes in shopping behaviour will forever alter consumer businesses, with the shift to online retail bringing a lack of brand loyalty among online buyers. Consumers are moving online and to reach them, companies must go there, too.
• Supply chains are rebalancing and shifting with a move to “just in time plus”, meaning disruptions are not as unusual as we thought and companies are building in better supply chain risk management strategies.
• The future of work has arrived early. What now is the role of the office? How do workforces adapt to the new requirements of automation, digitisation and other technologies? These and other questions are facing companies right now.

Whether you’re a business leader, a professional in your own field, or have an interest in the macro and micro consequences of COVID-19, I’m sure these points have provided some food for thought.  

Photograph
Standsome Worklifestyle on Unsplash.