e-Commerce and smart-working are greatly changing our working habits and in recent months have transformed our daily lives. Some accept them as an inevitable evolution; others in our industry believe creativity is in peril.
Doctors, researchers and politicians all repeatedly declare that we have to learn to live with the virus, while we await an effective vaccination. In the meantime, many are convinced that some of the new habits that we had to embrace during the lockdown could become normal behaviour in large swathes of society.
The success of e-Commerce has gained many more devotees, while Smart Working , Blended Working, or Working From Home (take your pick!) seems to have convinced many of the advantages to the future work/life balance when managed with an organized, disciplined methodology.
e-Commerce
We asked some questions to Giulio Finzi, Senior Partner at Netcomm Services (The Italian e-Commerce Associaiton), who has a positive perspective on the global e-commerce market:
From your analysis in Netcomm, how do you perceive the online cosmetics market in this period?
“We’ve been seeing Cosmetics Online Market growth for the last 10 years. Throughout this period, we have noticed a significant number of new online shoppers starting to buy online because of the lockdown and most of those consumers are still buying now via the web, simply because it’s so convenient.”
Has the global lockdown has had an impact on the cosmetics industry?
“Yes, all cosmetics retail was closed down for weeks, forcing many companies to start their eCommerce business and invest time, people and money in it. This strategy has to be omni-channel, combining digital and physical with the aim of better serving the consumer.”
According to Beauty sales forecast the E-commerce share is bound to increase steadily in all the areas of the world, even if at different growth rates.
But not everyone agrees about the rightfulness of these post pandemic trends. We are not only referring to brick and mortar stores that will have to readjust their development strategies in order to meet the new demands of the public, and as far as we understand most of retail expert agree in the necessity to find a mix formula of sales that should include online and offline offer to satisfy the increasing number of digitalised customers.
Smart Working
Companies all over the world understand now that they could have applied Smart working schedules much earlier. The saving in resources this can generate is huge: less office space needed, less transportation costs and deriving pollution, less waste of daily time for commuters. Even if not at the rate applied during the lockdown, work could be reorganised with a much higher share of smart work. As a consequence, many businesses that did services for commuters will have to be replaced of move in other areas.
Different situation we have in our industry with Hairdresser and Beauty salon staff, where Smart work is not applicable because the workers use their hand and need direct contact with customers. So, while Smart working can be very effective and a precious resource for most of offices and even retail, it cannot substitute the artisanal work many industries require. In the end it might even turn out that Smart working doesn’t help Creativity!
To ponder over this matter, we would like to quote one influential opinion that we have read in a recent interview that Pambianco Magazine had with the fashion leader Brunello Cucinelli who declared: “Smart working kills creativity”
“At the moment we are facing the pandemic with a day by day planning attitude, knowing that smart working is the killer of creativity and that we must soon return to having a healthy relationship with work”: said Brunelli Cucinelli,
“We have to face the pandemic with less and less fear, accepting everything that creator sends us”, he added.
“We should work less and do not let ourselves be involved in long working hours, even at night, an idea that the culture of Smart working brings about.
Once the fear phase is over, ” Continues Cucinelli, “ we will no longer be inclined to listen to the arrogant people, but we’ll be open only to pleasant people”
