MEET THE MARKET AND ADAPT TO STAY

THE NEW REALITY

We are in a new reality that, in the face of uncertainty, prompts us to know the new needs that customers have, how we can adapt and turn knowledge into strategies that lead us to remain in the market.

The current context is aimed at the autonomy of strategic sectors such as health, energy and technology and the global chain is now oriented towards regional chains. In this sense, Mexico with the free trade agreement recently signed with the United States and Canada will strengthen its position.

There are various global impacts: Work has decreased for most industries. This has the greatest impact on retail and manufacturing. Likewise, the least impact has been on education and agriculture, which continue to work, although with new health and hygiene measures. 94% of companies according to Fortune, are seeing interruptions in the supply chain due to the effect of COVID19. An extremely relevant data is that 79% of the boards of directors affirm that their companies are not prepared to face a crisis event.

Performance in industries has also been modified. In the case of retail (food), pharmaceuticals and health, technology and electronics, as well as telecommunications, they have managed to increase their performance while other sectors such as retail (clothing), real estate, financial services, energy, automotive, services, mobility, tourism and entertainment have decreased their performance up to 200%. The crisis is expected to increase poverty, especially in East Asia and the Pacific, followed by South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and Europe and Central Asia.

The new reality is an already naturalized concept that seeks to describe the construction of post-pandemic society in a current way. With which it is strongly established that it will not be the same world, nor the same conventions of fashion or consumption, and especially of social relations that will define the new social model.

The impacts that COVID-19 has had are highly tangible, as can be seen in the economy, in the quarantine that modifies daily activities such as going to work or studying or simply going out to shop. However, they are also intangible, such as the emotional impact that has even led some countries like China to give psychological therapy to manage the anxiety and fear that derives from the current situation.

At ACSI Research, two national studies have been carried out on the perception and sentiment of Mexicans in the face of the pandemic, in which it has been observed that in addition to being informed about the subject and that the outbreak in Mexico is considered serious. The measurements for April and May show that the average and the number of people who know about the disease doubled and there are cases who know that they have died. The fear of contagion and death is greater in older adults, however, fear increased on a personal level. According to ACSI Research data, the impact on their economic stability is the most relevant and has increased, followed by job stability, emotional health and family relationships. For 6% of the population the financial implications are total (without any recourse, loans or sale of assets will be used to survive), for 21.2% high (little resource, expenses are limited to what is essential, with overdue payments) . An extremely relevant fact of the study is that the perception that daily life will be resumed in a longer time increased.

NEW MARKET – CURRENT NEEDS

The self-realization, self-esteem and social needs are the needs that are at the top of the pyramid and are sought to be satisfied once the primary needs have already been satisfied, according to Maslow’s pyramid. Given the current situation, we have gone down to the base of the pyramid, returned to the basic needs of human beings, such as food, maintenance of health, safety, rest, among others, having to dedicate time and effort to satisfy them. These needs have become the most important and to which we pay the most attention, at least for the moment.

This must be understood, not only as people but also with a view to the market that will be transforming their needs and, therefore, companies have to transform their products, services, sales channels, etc. Faced with the loss of purchasing power, derived from the economic crisis, the consumer has become more cautious and seeks to increase their savings. Retail spending has declined while spending on restaurants, travel and hotels has practically disappeared. On the other hand, spending on food has increased, this may be due to the panic purchases that people made at the beginning of the pandemic, as well as the storage purchases that some prefer to make to avoid going out frequently.

TAKE DECISIONS

At this time the recommendation for business units is to move and not remain static. There are businesses that have modified their way of providing their service or even their line of business in order to adapt to the new reality and above all to remain in the market.

Faced with so many changes, the most important thing is to have reliable and trustworthy information to take steps with certainty and to be able to adapt to the new reality to REMAIN and not just to SURVIVE. This will be the challenge for companies that want to be leaders in this change.

Customers are looking for companies that focus on humans and their needs and not just selling their products or services. This leads to advertising and communication in general of companies, to be more emotional and to connect with their customers. Social marketing is and will be a strategy that will have to be visualized within organizations. In order to make decisions and decide how to communicate with our new market, it is necessary to know them through market research since, without a doubt, the profile that we knew of our consumer will not be the same after the pandemic. At ACSI Research with more than 3000 research projects, we understand this change and we have adapted our projects to new needs.

In today’s complex market scenarios, the best decisions are not the best thought out, but the ones with the best information.

KNOWLEDGE AND STRATEGY

At ACSI Research we are clear that once we provide sufficient, timely and necessary information for decision making, the strategy must be generated. This strategy aims to capitalize on knowledge.

1.- Make an internal diagnosis, know your strengths and where you are currently.

2.- Know your market – Listen to your current clients, visualize market scenarios with creativity and innovation.

3.- Evaluate disruptive alternatives (Do not close possibilities) Get out of the box- go to your new reality.

4.- Profile your new market segment, complete X-ray.

5.- Generates comprehensive Product Marketing strategies, place (new distribution) and price.