Before the pandemic, Brazilian companies with an international presence already invested a large part of their operation and sales in the digital environment. This visionary action is saving them right now. This is what Rodrigo Lins, CEO of a multinational Communication, Marketing and Press agency with global operations, says.
There are approximately 4.4 million Latin American companies in the United States, a number that generates more than $ 700 billion in revenue for the U.S. economy, according to a study by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. However, the coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected the country’s economy, exterminating some of the most vulnerable companies and leaving property owners in a tense situation in the face of uncertainty about what will happen in the future.
The US Department of Commerce reported that retail spending in March this year fell with the highest number ever recorded. Travel expenses – including airlines, hotels and cruises – have fallen by more than 100% if reimbursements are included. Department stores and clothing stores are facing the possibility of extinction after years of decline. But what the effects of the pandemic are showing is that companies that already bet on communication and online systems suffer less from the effects.
“What we are realizing in general is that companies that prepared themselves technologically and bet not only on digital communication, but put part of their operations online, are suffering less from the pandemic. Some of our customers, for example, who have already come investing in massive online advertising, virtual assistance and keeping part of the team in the home office did not have to change their routines so drastically”, evaluates Rodrigo Lins, CEO of Onevox Global, multinational communication, marketing and press agency based in the USA and branches in Brazil, Canada and Europe.
Technology to Immunize Companies
For the specialist, the pandemic will affect and change market practices in ways that are even irreversible in some sectors. According to Lins, entrepreneurs need to be visionaries and, finally, understand that there will be no way to survive without technology and strategy. In the retail segment, for example, the US is likely to suffer profound impacts, says Rodrigo Lins, who has a Master in Communication.
“In the last 50 years, the number of American malls has grown almost twice as fast as the population of the USA, to the point that, in 2015, the USA had 10 times more shopping space per capita than Germany, for example. Abundance doesn’t make sense in the era of giant online shopping sites. With over-leverage, over-construction and expansion, American retailers have come a long way to fall as the country moves towards online shopping. In 2019, the closing of physical stores reached the highest level ever “, explains Rodrigo Lins.
For the expert, the year 2020 can bring the death of department stores, changing the retail market. “Several large department stores are closing and that shows a lot of things to come. It is essential to look to the future and realize that the impacts of the pandemic will be felt for a long time. People will not be exposed again easily,” he says. Lins.
*Rodrigo Lins is a Master in Communication, Specialist in audiovisual language, University professor, journalist and writer, legally resident in the United States and is the author of the book “Internationalize yourself: Parameters to take your professional career to the US legally” released in 2019. He directs the multinational Communication, Marketing and Press agency Onevox Creative Solutions based in the USA.