After a year of nothing but the unexpected, the 2020 holiday shopping season was generally pretty predictable. Even without taking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic into account, the industry saw the continued move away from in-store cash sales to digital and omnichannel experiences, which began several years ago.
2020 was a difficult year. Apart from the obvious, we all know how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the SMB community as they are working hard to stay in business. While technological trends and solutions, such as contactless payment acceptance, mobility, etc., are increasingly moving downstream to SMBs and helping them better prepare for the year ahead, they will need additional support to boost their business. For example, compared to most large merchants, many SMBs don’t have strong online eCommerce capabilities. Even though it is imperative for them to get customers back to the store, they don’t have the necessary eCommerce capabilities to fall back on, particularly in the context of the current health crisis.
Repair and warranty services are critical for the smooth functioning of a business and especially when you accept electronic payments. Without a strong customer care program, many businesses find themselves trying to put out fires instead of safeguarding themselves against these situations.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2019, brought the hotel & travel industry to a halt. According to an AHLA report, almost 65% of hotels remained below 50% capacity during the peak of the health crisis. That, according to the same report, is below the threshold which allows hotels to break-even and pay debt. This resulted in mass layoffs and furloughing of employees in 9 out of 10 hotels. With many travel restrictions that were in place during the peak of the travel season, only 33% of Americans took vacations as compared to 70% in previous years during the same time.
Covid-19 gave the $19 billion-dollar amusement and theme park industry its biggest ride yet.
