We held back on this week’s Wednesday newsletter as we knew many of our members were scrambling to get ready for Alert Level 3 in Auckland and for some of the positive movements for businesses in Alert Level 2.

Hopefully all has gone as well as it can for those of you who have had the opportunity to increase business this week. For those businesses who can not yet operate at Alert Level 3, or who still face constraints due the restrictions of Alert Levels, please hang in there –  we do see opportunity ahead.

While we remain in what continues to be a challenging period for many of us business owners, the changes we saw this week do represent a little ray of light and – hopefully – another step towards Alert Level 1 as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. Without a doubt, the day we see Auckland back in Alert Level 2 will be a very welcome one, which will also hopefully allow the balance of the country to move to Level 1 – fingers crossed.

In the meantime, grab your barista-made coffee and read on for another ray of sunshine to take you into the weekend…

Some inspiration from overseas

Global management consultants, McKinsey & Co have released two separate pieces of data this week, both of which serve as inspiration for better days ahead.

The first is represented in the charts below showing the impact of vaccinations on hospitalisations in the UK, France & US – with hospitalisation rates being similar to that normally experienced with influenza, and exponentially lower than for the non-vaccinated. These figures offer us hope, as we head into 2022, that we can use vaccinations to mitigate the use of future lockdowns to reduce the impacts of COVID-19.

 

The second piece of data reveals the amazing resilience of consumers around the world, with retail spending already returning to pre-pandemic norms. We were certainly seeing that – and then some – here in New Zealand, with Q2 2021 GDP coming in at a very strong 2.8% after the 2020 lockdowns. Many experts are predicting a “V shaped” bounce back again here when we get back to Level 1.

 

 

Inspiration from home

Another promising insight comes from NZ Post, which reports an increasing surge in online spending in NZ, with the numbers of online shoppers and the frequency of their online shopping both increasing year on year. For business who can adapt, this demonstrates there are opportunities to build resilience for when physical interactions can not occur.

 

 

 

We’ll be back with more details over the coming weeks with our thoughts for 2022 planning.

In the meantime, our message today is ‘hang in there, survive and get ready to thrive’. Better days are ahead, and hopefully not too far away.

Stay safe, stay realistically optimistic and stay posted for more insights and tips to come.