Welcome to the Low-Touch Economy
How do you define the Low-Touch Economy?
Our society and the global economy have been permanently altered by COVID-19. Reduced physical interactions between employees and consumers are one of the most noticeable constraints on business-as-usual, which is why we coined the term ‘Low-Touch Economy’. My colleagues and I believe the pandemic is shaping a new era of consumer behaviour, and that successful companies will be those who adapt their business models to work with the different health measures and other challenges that COVID-19 presents. The current disruption is changing how we eat, work, shop, exercise, manage our health, socialize and spend our free time. Even the post-pandemic era will have an economy shaped by new habits and regulations based on reduced close-contact interactions and tighter travel and hygiene restrictions.
Who are the winners so far in this environment?
When people think of a low-touch business model, one of the first things that comes to mind is contactless payments, which were already gaining traction before the pandemic hit. The fact is, certain companies, like Amazon, were designed for a low-touch economy. The question is, can you adopt certain aspects of their business models to claim a piece of another market?
We estimate that about 15 per cent of companies actually saw a boost in revenue in 2020. Of course, many of them are related to the pandemic itself. Science and pharmaceutical companies are doing particularly well, but there are others. We have identified four
