For many who have crossed the digital divide this year, there will be no turning back.
The Covid-19 epidemic forced Americans to make a physical swap for the digital world in a matter of months. As retailers learn without stores, business travelers without planes, and workers without office fees, much of the work that begins as temporary happiness becomes permanent.
“Covid has worked like a time machine: it brought 2030 to 2020,” said Lauren Pedford, vice president of Shopify Inc. “All those trends, where organizations think they had more time, gained momentum.” Broker Robert W. According to Baird & Co., merchants using the company’s e-commerce platform grew by more than 20% between January and June.
Redevelopment is already evident in everything from the stock market to corporate spending patterns to the reduction of physical cash. In 2020, investors will invest in digital-intensive, asset-lite business models, such as used online car dealer Carvana Co., RBNB Inc. And Amazon.com Inc. Or companies that provide the infrastructure that makes the models possible, such as Shopify, Zoom Video Communications Inc. And micro .ft corp. Businesses now spend less on office fees and travel, and more on cloud computing, collaboration software and logistics.
In many ways, digitization is just the next chapter of a century-long process: the dematerialisation of the economy. As agricultural production and then services have given way, the share of economic value derived from tangible goods and muscles shrinks while the share gained from information and brains increases. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Lan Greensp liked to note that economic output has continued to ease.
.
