Bangkok, February 2020: It was then a mysterious flu-like virus centered in Wuhan, and much of South East Asia—if not the whole world—were simply concerned and bewildered at most, acted like a mask and great dollops of Purell can save them from what will soon be called COVID-19. That was in early February and in Bangkok, while businesses were operating as per usual, you can get tipsy from the smell of isopropyl alcohol in hand sanitizers that permeated the air in any given enclosed area, like in a shopping mall. Infrared gun thermometers—so much like that invasive and unnerving TSA full-body scanner—were in every entrance door. Heat and humidity are legendary in Bangkok, so going to the mall is necessary even just for the air-conditioning.

I went to Siam Paragon, one of the largest shopping malls in the country. Back then, it looked so bizzare to see customers and sales people interact in masks (but three months in, it has become commonplace). Some tourist-magnets like Gucci and Prada were limiting the amount of people inside the store, but for most retailers, social distancing was not being observed. Shoppers were in tight groups and sometimes, hovering over a single merchandise. I doubt if they even sanitized any of the handbags after being touched by a flock of shoppers, or if any of the items for sale were quarantined for a specified period, since even back in early February, there were studies made on the lifespan of the virus and the results suggest that it can live from a few hours to about 3 days, depending on the type of surface its attached to.

By mid-March, all these stores will be closed and Thailand will be on lockdown. As for me, I was already back home in NYC, newly unemployed and scared shitless.

That day at Siam Paragon, what I had hoped to be a fun expedition quickly turned into a more serious study. Almost everybody wore a surgical mask in Tiffany Blue (Why this specific shade of blue? Some kind of medical color coding?). I thought, this situation can only get really ugly before things can get better. Was I looking at some semblance of the future of retail, post-COVID19?

When stores reopen, will employees be wearing masks and will I be allowed to shop even without some kind of face covering? Will I have to sanitize my hands as I enter and leave a store? Will I have to ask a sales person to speak louder, if he or she can only interact no closer than 6 feet away from me? I think that this “pandemic paranoia” will soon be met with “pandemic fatigue”, but I’m certain of one thing: some of these practices will stick and reshape the culture of shopping.

We’ve all heard the toilet paper jokes, but seriously, how can a retailer reinvent its strategy when people are spending their money these days mostly on essentials like groceries, and given the health scare situation, they do it mostly online. While many stores have closed down permanently, Amazon reported a $75 billion revenue during the first quarter of 2020.

When retail stores finally reopen, they will meet a new customer, someone who has developed confidence in buying online, who is less dependent on interpersonal interactions. How can you then, marry online shopping with in-store experience? I was in Tokyo over a year ago and witnessed something that is somewhat related to this query. Just by using their cellphones, people shopped by scanning an item’s QR code and when done, they simply paid via WeChat! No money to count, no credit card to hold. It was a little intimidating but very efficient, I thought.

Retailers need to learn more about this type of customer and enhance their experience of shoppable IG or FB posts and online shopping. Just maybe, by learning their web-based purchasing habits, can a retailer make a physical store find a new sense of relevance.

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