World Without Mask

It’s been exactly a year and few days after WHO declare that the world is in pandemic state due to the coronavirus. It took the world by storm with how fast the spreading and although it is not deadly, still affect a lot of people and proven to be fatal for elderly. We need to keep our distance hence the social distancing and we also need to wear mask, tools to prevent us from spreading the virus and protect us from it. Hence, we have to give a new spot for a new fashion statement in 2020. I hope the vaccine can be delivered quickly to the population and create a herd immunity (P.S. we still need to wear mask and social distance until everyone or majority of us got vaccinated or have develop a good amount of antibody to fight against the virus…so mask on!)

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Back to the title, this is not a post for the movie called World without mask in 1930’s (which i think is a horror movie) but rather a statement of what if coronavirus never happened? What should have happened in 2020? Well, we definitely would still be taking care of our face when we go out by wearing make up or lipstick for the ladies and shaving the beard/mustache for the guys. But because of wearing mask and not meeting people, I am quite sure we have neglected those stuff a bit. But beside that, there are several “big” things that should have happened or did happen with some modification during 2020.

1. 2020 Summer Olympics – Japan is (or was) the new host for the summer olympic in 2020. It has been building up in the last 2 years as one of the main catalyst for the economy, particularly tourism and further a bit, property. With a rather stable but small economic growth, Japan government put quite some hope on this event to jump-start the tourism section and help the growth of the economy. It was expected to bring in around 30 trillion yen to the nation based on statista. However, everything changed when the fire nation….i mean coronavirus attack the country, nay, the world… until now, there is uncertainty over the opening of the olympics in 2021 due to current condition.

Japan 2020 Summer Olympic

2. Movies..lots of new movies – Marvel, Disney (same thing actually), Universal Studioes, Warner Bros, Sony, Legendary etc are some of the studios that will release blockbusters such as Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, Fast 9, etc. Not counting tons of other series that cancel their shooting due to the virus spreading in the country or even worst, the actor and the crew. Some of them managed to still release it on the same year albeit at the very late of 2020 such as Wonder Woman on both movie theatre and online streaming platform which is HBO Max. Others may stick to delaying the releases (because i believe people will queuing for it since it has been a year and we are craving for an entertainment) or put it on their online streaming platform such as Soul in Disney+.

3. Other things that may put up as a headline in the news but overshadowed by the presence of coronavirus – things such as the election of the new US president (who knows the result will be different if corona does not happen), the project to mars, new console, new songs, etc. However, one thing for sure, the technology did rise exponentially in that year as we totally depend on zoom, online marketplace and food delivery to survive in this pandemic (thank you for those online drivers who risked their lives for our sake, hats off to you guys. Do not forget to tips!). Communication such as 5G is also rising, given the release of new phones that supporting the tech. Technology shares rose to all time high and the green initiative, starting with the new electric vehicle, is also flying. Tesla is clearly the winner in 2020 for tech shares that made Mr. Musk richest man in the world.

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Well, those are the main 3 things (there are a lot actually) of the stuff that might be our headline in the year 2020 and probably will the headline in 2021 if we can subdue the pandemic by mid-year. Hopefully, everyone can get vaccinated before the virus mutated and we can, once again, live in the world without mask…

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What do you think guys? Any events or topics that might be the highlight of 2020 if the world is not wearing any mask? Please leave your thoughts!

Economic impact – post pandemic

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Covid-19 again? Well…sort of..( I mean its hard to find new things that does not have COVID-19 as a catalyst) However, this blog is not just about the current pandemic situation but rather a summary or short analysis on the aftermath of the economy – post pandemic. To begin with, we will only discuss selected pandemic that affect countries and its economy globally. We will look at the recovery period in terms of:

• Duration of the pandemic;
• The solver for the problem (its always and most certainly a vaccine);
• Impact on economy such as stock market and property; and
• Is there any new businesses sprout from it.

The pandemic that will be analysed are:

1. Cholera Outbreak (1817 – 1923)
2. The Spanish Flu (1918-1919)
3. Swine Flu (2009 – 2010)
4. Current pandemic which is Covid-19 or Coronavirus.

Below is the table of the comparison between all of them. I used several sources like visualcapitalist, Wikipedia (of course the one that has legit sources), CDC and History website

based on the table above, we will discuss further regarding the impact on the economy and its new business.

Cholera outbreak

Poster on Cholera outbreak

Based on times websites, when the outbreak hit New York, a lot of people fled from the city to the countryside in order to avoid the disease. It hit the banks, market such as the one bank paid out approx. $20,000 (Its a huge amount on that time). However, new opportunities also appearing such as the inn’s in the countryside were fully booked, nurses were in high demand and workers/cleaners were hired more than usual in order to clean/maintaining hygiene on their site. Since then, the level of cleanliness has been the standard for good accommodations. Government was not directly involved in this situation.

 

The Spanish flu

The economic impact on this pandemic was relatively short compared to the other pandemic, according to the studies done by Federal Reserves of St Louis back in 2007. It is basing the USA as the example of the impact. It is a good report that i would recommend you to read but in a nutshell, the journal conclusion was the impact on the economy was quite huge albeit its short period. Businesses suffered two-times than usual with the low demand coming from the market and higher wages due to shortage of worker that got the disease. It again boost the healthcare industry and people are wearing mask again since it was invented to fight the plague back in 1848. As far as research shows, the government were involved very little in regards to the economic impact as they have been very busy containing the virus. It is better compared to the Cholera pandemic though.

 

Swine flu

This case is a bit difficult to determine due to the timing. It was after the global financial crisis that hit the US — then the world in 2008-2009. Many studies does not give in-depth detail (and possibly there will be none) regarding the impact of the pandemic due to the crisis that already happened beforehand. One thing for sure though, the government involvement in this case was a lot better compared to the previous outbreaks. Stock market crashed but that is also one of the side-effect of the earlier financial crisis and thus cannot be categorised as the sole victim of this outbreak.

 

What about COVID-19??

So far it has caused 2 countries that i known to fall into recession. They are Singapore and South Korea. Airlines have fired 30-40% of their crew due to the close border and travel ban between countries. Hotels and resorts were empty. Restaurant experienced a decline or even bankruptcy as such it will never recover after this. Stock market crashed approximately 30% since March (although it has recovered rapidly due to the positive news of vaccine and government incentives).

All i can draw from all of this case studies were 2 things:

1. Government involvement :
2. The more direct it is, the faster the economy recovers from the impact. At this point, Government is the only one who can create demand and provide incentives to push the demand beside helping directly with subsidised. It can use its fiscal and monetary policies such as injection of cash into the market by buying bonds or lower the interest rate, tax rate and change any policies to benefit the investor and society. Therefore, i believe that government role in the economy during pandemic is significantly important.
3. Technology:
4. During the previous pandemic, after it ended, the employee and employer will go back to its usual business (with probably extra care for hygiene and insurance) however, this current pandemic provides a new perspective for both players. Employee feels like they can balance things more between work and resting by working from home. Employers does not need much space (office space) to get their business running. Zoom, Teams, Google meet are just one click away. Retail also does not need to open many stores if they have an online websites or registered in one of the e-commerce company as a merchant. As long as the can deliver the product to the customer safe and sound, they can do their business.

Hence, I believe, things that happened in the past might be very different from the aftermath of this COVID-19(which i hope soon).The aftermath of this pandemic could possibly be a turning point for the economy in the whole world and creating new business opportunity. One thing for sure, business that can cater the needs of people during pandemic will probably keep doing well after the pandemic ended (such as online store, online consultation and utilising  smartphone as a medium). Other thing to note is that, with technology getting more advanced, the period of recovery is also getting shorter and shorter.

Below is a video by the economist on their take regarding how serious is the impact of COVID-19 to the economy

What do you think? Please do leave comments below if you have any other opinion regarding the aftermath of this pandemic.

 

 

-J-

Post-pandemic effect on commercial real estate

2020 has not been a kind year globally. It started with the threat of the still on going trade-war (via Reuter’s), the wild bushfire in Australia and now the pandemic spread of Coronavirus know as Covid-19.

Photo by Burak K on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

In Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta, we got hit by massive flood that has not happened since 2008 and it is quite severe (before Covid-19 worsen the situation). Whilst the flood only happens particularly in Jakarta, Covid-19 happens more evenly to the nation. As per 1st week of May 2020, there has been over 10,000 positive cases. This pandemic has force most the country to implement a social distancing. Social distancing, based on Merriam-webster dictionary, “is the practice of maintaining a greater than usual physical distance (such as six feet or more) from other people or of avoiding direct contact with people or objects in public places during the outbreak of a contagious disease in order to minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of infection”. Due to this regulation, companies cannot work at their office anymore for a certain period of time and thus implementing a work from home method.

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At first, most of the companies and employees complained and hoping that the pandemic  is over soon. However, as time goes by, some companies are planning to reduce their space in the office building that they currently renting because working from actually works. This happened in a country where the infrastructure of the technology such as internet speed and stability is very high (e.g. Singapore, Japan, Korea etc.). Countries that does not have those infrastructure will move back to the office because they cannot function properly. I personally believed that there will be 2 groups that come out of this pandemic:

• Company that cannot implement work from home and hence will keep renting office space; and
• Company that can transform itself to divide the workers to work at the office / home or even completely at home (just like Twitter did)

There will be a clear separation between the two and honestly, i think it will be bad for the commercial office market all over the world. S&P global also stated that there is a pressure on the rents and occupancy level (link on the picture, just click it).

There is an interesting article on BBC that provides a good insight as well. It might also boost the market for SOHO (Small Office Home Office). Basically, a place where you can work and also sleep properly.

Another side-effect on this pandemic is the rise of e-commerce and logistics. People were afraid to go out and thus will try to get everything online (starting from daily food to daily groceries). Hence, it will almost make a permanent change in the retail industry and also served as a wake up call for the stores to start develop their own online shop. But i honestly think it will not 100% erase the physical store, see my articles on retail here.

Overall, those are the main two impact which unfortunately is a negative one to the respective industries. But who knows, there is always an opportunity in this kind of situation. Just like Sun Tzu said.

Please let me know your thoughts on this and comment below!

COVID-19…when will it end?

Lockdown, social distancing and mask..those are some of the new words that i would have never imagined to become one of the most type, said and mentioned in 2020. Starting with huge flood in my country (literally on the first day of new year, 1st of Jan) to pandemic that started on March till now. The big question is…when will it end? Even bigger question, can it end?

Before we talk about when will it end, we first need to know about virus itself. Coronavirus, as WHO would describe it,

“COVID-19 is a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. ‘CO’ stands for corona, ‘VI’ for virus, and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as ‘2019 novel coronavirus’ or ‘2019-nCoV.’ The COVID-19 virus is a new virus linked to the same family of viruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and some types of common cold”.

Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.  Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

On March 11, 2020, The World Health Organization has officially declared that COVID-19 is a pandemic and need to be taken seriously. Although by 12 of July 2020, the mortality rate of the virus has dropped significantly as shown on the picture below( Source: Ourworldindata.org ):

So, COVID-19 have a quite low mortality rate and mostly impacting older people said WHO. The biggest problem is the rate of infection is the fastest so far that we have seen compare to the other disease. In just 6 months, more than 12 million people got infected.

So, in summary, it is deadly, spread quickly and gradually. So, how long will it last? when will it end?

There are 2 articles that i can recommend you guys to read:

• Independent article
• IFIA

Those 2 article cannot say when but mostly everyone agree that a vaccine will be the main cure and the way to stop the spread as well as the virus. Vaccine, as far as i know have a lot of steps need to be completed before testing on human. Based on CDC website, there are 4 steps before going to phase of manufacturing. Each of the 4 phases have another 1-3 testing period, which can make up into a total of 12 test max. It will take some time especially the experimentation and testing process. Hopefully, the world can work together and pool our resources in order to combat this pandemic quicker. I have also heard that the USA have started to skip the trial on animal straight to human testing.

Hopefully, by next year we can end this “new normal” stuff and continue our “old normal” that is not living with the virus (or mask or social distancing).

What do you guys think?? Any other options beside vaccine? Do post some article or comment below!

-J-

Will Traditional Retail Become Obsolete??

Hi! its been quite some time since i wrote in this blog. I have been really focusing on my work in Property Consultant business and hence the title of the article.

To start of the topic, this is the example of what i called traditional retail:

The above picture shows us the current concept of traditional retail center/shopping center. Consist of specialties shops followed by anchor and mini anchor shops and then some FnB. Back in the days, it used to be the “model” of a retail center, but it changes with the technology keep advancing and trying to replace it. I used to shop everything at mall or retail center that have department store because I’m the type of guy that have to look and hold the goods before buying it. But currently, online shop such as Amazon, Ebay and others (even specifically for clothes such as Lazada), they provide cheap and even sometimes free delivery services. I would choose them over going to retail center that potentially waste my time (not counting the traffic..urgh). This is one of the factor why the online store is much more successful compare to traditional retail center.

All of these are back up by news such as CNBC, even Warren Buffet started to pulling  out his money from those traditional retailer.

The big question is… will they be truly replace?

My personal opinion is NO. It’s true that it will change, the model and concept of traditional retail will definitely change. It will become only a hangout place and entertainment. Because honestly, you can’t really hangout online (unless the VR technology can do that but sadly no..) while eating food and maybe drink coffee/tea. Also the store with luxury items will most likely to survive because everyone wants to see the things they bought for thousand or million of dollar right??  This article from Forbes will be interesting to read.

So, how about it?? What do you think??

Do give your comments below

Cheers!!

J

Will 6S triumph??

Hey Everyone, been a while since i post something…

IPhone 6s Rosegold

Anyway, i want to discuss about one of the most anticipated Apple product this year, which is IPhone 6s! as we all know that Apple love to introduce their so called “improved” and new IPhone series with an S in the back of it and claimed its a totally new phone compare to the previous with the same number (4,4S,5,5S even 5C!)

To be honest though, i dont think they have improved a lot at least for the last 3 S’s..but about this one?

These are all the new features from IPhone 6S and 6S+

• A9 processor
• 3D touch
• 12 MGP rear camera
• improved touch ID
• new material (probably stronger than the “bending” IPhone 6)
• new colors

Although they didn’t increase the price but USD have become so dominant in the last few months..so i think that’s the whole reason why they didn’t increase it…

But a lot of my friend and some interviewer samples said that they like this new IPhone and its different from their S’ancestors and they will change their old IPhone 6 for this…

What do you think guys?? is it worth the price? or we can just wait for IPhone 7 which if we see the pattern, will be different than the previous number..and will it be successful??? (personally i think it would be so-so since there are no major upgrades)

Feel free to comment ^^ 

1 second everyday..

Hi Folks!

Its been a while since i last post a blog because of the hectic week but here i’m! hope you guys enjoy it!

This week topic is about and app thats called 1 second everyday..its a very interesting title/name isnt it? 

Its an app that record a video for 1 second everyday..huh??? 1 second?? Yes, only a second..but then you compiled the whole video for a week or a month.. it would be a movie for your activities of the whole month!

“Imagine a movie that includes every day of the rest of your life” Thats their slogan. It means, this app can record a video for only a second, every day and then you can compiled it in a year or even your whole life!

here’s the video:

Its very interesting and creative app, although its not that popular. It doesnt take much time for people to take a look at it since a whole month of events will be compiled in 30 seconds! and since our generation have lower attention span, means they dont want to watch a long video..this app is perfect!

i think this app can be used to market a whole bunch of product in a video and it will only take a minute or so and again people will not complaining about the time they took to watch it..since its only for a second

how about it guys? do you think it can be used for marketing a product/services??

Leave a comment below ^^

J-Gunners

Sources

1 second every day

attention span article for student

Train your brain – Lumosity

Hi Folks!!

Like to play games?? how about games that can train your brain?? there is a website that provides you with game for your brain..its called Lumosity

here’s the video of an interview why the person want to play

its an interesting way of marketing i think if you include some interactive games inside the website

it can be one of the option for the improving digital marketing. By creating games on the website, customer can have some fun before surfing the websites…and if they feel that the games are pretty good, they might want to comeback to try different games and thus increase the view of your websites

For this game, customer can choose and pick what kind of games they want to play and it will have different functions such as remembering patterns, associated name with faces, keeping track of multiple information in your head, etc.

Lumosity

Companies can create such game (doesnt have to be brain training) to engage customer to visit their websites often and therefore getting more chance to marketing the product

What do you think?? can this type of digital marketing works??

Please leave a comment!! ^^

J-Gunners

Crowdfunding – From you to you

Hi Folks!!

Have you heard the term of crowdfunding??

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the internet.(via Wikipedia)

So basically if you want to start some projects, you asked the viewer of your project to fund it and they can get special treatment or even prizes. easy examples is when a youtuber wants to create a video but require money on casting, rent a building…they can ask their followers to give money and then the followers might get included in casting or meet with the artist or can suggest the idea of the video..

this youtube link help you to understand more about crowdfunding

i think this is a great way to fund and also advertise your product with the extra help from your customer..  and also help the customer relationship with the seller as they can know the ideas and customer feel like the product is what they need since they are the one who suggest it. In this way, both seller and customer can be profitable from the product.

extra Link:

Big crowdfunding sites

How to market your crowdfunding campaign

Any thoughts??? just leave on the comment section below ^^

Cheers!

J-Gunners

Help Yourself campaign

Hi Folks!!

Recently while i was browsing in youtube, i found this interesting ad from the victorian government

here’s the video

In that video, the man is opening his house, unlock his car and intentionally invites thieves to steal his goods..it was an interesting video saying that if you do those things, its like saying “hey please take my stuff and help yourself”

The video was develop by the Victorian Police

In the website that they give from the ad, they have other several videos for protecting your car, house and stuff from being stolen by other people..

here’s the video for each of them:

Protect your house

Protect your car

Protect your stuff

Personally i think this video is interesting and quite reliable since it came from the police..and it shows that so many people keep forgetting to lock their car, houses or just leave stuff in random places…and this thing can happen in Uni too! I know someone that leave her macbook and IPhone in Monash Library (for quite some time so its her fault lol) and lose it..

So be careful guys! and Help yourself! Dont invite crime!

What do you think of this campaign guys?? Just leave any comment below

Cheers!

J-Gunners