WEBVTT - Can Businesses That Thrived During Lockdowns Keep up as Economy Gets Back to Normal?

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, March eleven. I'm Oscar Mrrors from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Many businesses thrived because of the shifts and spending during

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<v Speaker 1>lockdowns now looking forward to an economy that will hopefully

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<v Speaker 1>be getting back to normal soon. These companies are phasing

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<v Speaker 1>questions about if they can keep up. Will people continue

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<v Speaker 1>to order from door dash or go back to restaurants,

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<v Speaker 1>Will the home improvement sector continue to grow, or are

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<v Speaker 1>people going on vacations. Paul Zobro, reporter at the Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street Journal, joins us for more. Thanks for joining us, Paul.

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<v Speaker 1>You know we're all looking forward to getting back to

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<v Speaker 1>normal as these vaccines can continue to roll out. We've

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<v Speaker 1>gotten some good instructions from the CDC. Fully vaccinated people

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<v Speaker 1>can start hanging out without masks and without having a

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<v Speaker 1>social distance. So so we're on our way back and

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<v Speaker 1>checking in on the business world. The pandemic the big

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<v Speaker 1>disruptor that it has been. There was a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>businesses that were thriving throughout the pandemic, food delivery apps,

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<v Speaker 1>door dash, things like that, home improvement stores because everybody

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<v Speaker 1>was at home, and what else did you have to do,

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<v Speaker 1>but to fix up your house, things like that. But

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<v Speaker 1>moving into this next phase, you know, some of these

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<v Speaker 1>businesses now are confronting a lot of questions. Can they

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<v Speaker 1>keep up the growth that they've done. Can they keep

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<v Speaker 1>their businesses going as people's attentions are going to be split,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, more restaurant dining, a lot of other things

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<v Speaker 1>that pent up spending demand. Basically, So Paul tell us

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit about what these businesses are looking at.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think the start off, I just want to

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<v Speaker 1>be clear that I think every business and every person

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<v Speaker 1>wants the world to return to some sense of normalcy

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<v Speaker 1>from what we had before the pandemic. That being said,

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<v Speaker 1>some businesses will confront some challenges to their financials as

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<v Speaker 1>the world returns to their sense of normalcy. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>these are the companies just had really big games during

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<v Speaker 1>the pandemic. You mentioned door Dash home depots. While there

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<v Speaker 1>was a lot of stores closed, there were a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of winners that came out of the retail space, home

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<v Speaker 1>improvement space, electronics companies like Best Guy who just people

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<v Speaker 1>bought up laptops for their home offices or homeschooling, bigger

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<v Speaker 1>TVs to watch their Netflix people cooked at home a lot.

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<v Speaker 1>So there was this huge sudden shift in spending and

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<v Speaker 1>habits that happened when the world locked down. I guess,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, just about a year ago, and there's probably

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<v Speaker 1>gonna be just just as big of an unprecedented and

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<v Speaker 1>unknown sort of shift. How much we get back to

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<v Speaker 1>normalcy or is there some accelerated shift into into new

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<v Speaker 1>habits once things kind of look a little bit normal

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<v Speaker 1>in this world, And none of that's happening anytime soon.

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<v Speaker 1>But like you said, there does seem to be light

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<v Speaker 1>at the end of the tunnel with what vaccine is

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<v Speaker 1>rolling out, some capacity restrictions being lifted, more schools and sessions.

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<v Speaker 1>So companies are going to have to confront that new

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<v Speaker 1>reality sooner as in later. Yeah, and it's not all

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<v Speaker 1>bad news. It's not like the business for these companies

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<v Speaker 1>that is going to just drop off out of nowhere.

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<v Speaker 1>But the growth might not be as big as they

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<v Speaker 1>experienced this past year. But that's important, you know, matters

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<v Speaker 1>into the structure of their business and how they move forward.

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<v Speaker 1>Do they need to cut back on employees, do they

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<v Speaker 1>need to get more employees? These are all kind of

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<v Speaker 1>the questions that they're going to have to grapple with

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<v Speaker 1>as growth might not be as fast as as they

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<v Speaker 1>experienced already. That's true. I mean some companies at astronomical growth.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean DoorDash just you know, their order levels nearly

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I think tripled in the in the fourth

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<v Speaker 1>quarter last year. So they're one of the clear beneficiaries.

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<v Speaker 1>And it kind of looks like they're they're gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>one of the clear I don't want to say losers,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's hard to see them benefiting as more people

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<v Speaker 1>go out restaurants and you know, order in less often.

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<v Speaker 1>But I think one kind of still relying to this

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<v Speaker 1>sort of quote unquote problem, is that these companies did

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<v Speaker 1>have big growth and as a result that they had

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of customers who made them may not have

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<v Speaker 1>been familiar with their platform. So one of the challenges

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<v Speaker 1>to see if there's anything they can do to hold

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<v Speaker 1>onto that business that they had. At Sea filled a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of face masks and home decor over the during

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<v Speaker 1>the pandemic. And while you might not buy as many

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<v Speaker 1>face masks more, you might you know, now you haven't

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<v Speaker 1>at the account and you you may know a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit better and you kind of know what what you

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<v Speaker 1>can get from it, and that's the company that hopes

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<v Speaker 1>that they can grow fast in the broader e commerce space.

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<v Speaker 1>Is kind of helped by the fact that a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more new people started shopping on etc. Over the past here.

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<v Speaker 1>Same thing with you know, home people modes. They have

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of initiatives to make sure that people know

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<v Speaker 1>of new ways that they can upgrade their homes and

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<v Speaker 1>work with their contractors to do all that. So it's

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<v Speaker 1>just another thing that these companies are are going to

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<v Speaker 1>have to work on as we get into this phase,

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<v Speaker 1>the phase of the recovery. And one of the interesting

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<v Speaker 1>companies and all of this is Zoom. Obviously people were

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<v Speaker 1>holding meetings, family gatherings over Zoom. I mean, they really

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<v Speaker 1>took off throughout the pandemic. And as things open up

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<v Speaker 1>people start going back to work, what is their place

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<v Speaker 1>going to be in this space now? You know, they

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<v Speaker 1>had a huge rise and growth and obviously they want

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<v Speaker 1>to continue that. So they're definitely going to have to adapt.

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<v Speaker 1>There's gonna be a lot of people still working from

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<v Speaker 1>home and remotely. A lot of that might stick around,

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<v Speaker 1>but for them, maybe the usage for people just and

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<v Speaker 1>be as great. So they really have an interesting place

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<v Speaker 1>in all this they do. But even if you think

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<v Speaker 1>about what the office will look like over the next

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<v Speaker 1>couple of years, we hear very few companies talking about

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<v Speaker 1>everybody back in the office at the same time anytime soon.

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<v Speaker 1>And I can't even imagine that even within an office

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<v Speaker 1>that they'll be crowding into conference rooms for the big meetings.

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<v Speaker 1>People very well, well they said at their desks or

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<v Speaker 1>just had a couple of people in the office and

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<v Speaker 1>a couple of people at home, you know, meeting together

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<v Speaker 1>like that. So one thing I think that these companies

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<v Speaker 1>have working in their advantage is that they know that

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<v Speaker 1>this is coming. Whereas when the pandemic happened, nobody really

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<v Speaker 1>knew that that was that was on the horizon, so

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<v Speaker 1>everybody was really rushing to make sure they know to

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<v Speaker 1>figure out, you know, what we're gonna do here, Whereas

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<v Speaker 1>with the pandemic, you know, they at least have some

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<v Speaker 1>time to prepare to say, we don't think it's gonna

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<v Speaker 1>be around forever. Let's figure out and brain stormways to

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<v Speaker 1>find out what our life is going to be like

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<v Speaker 1>in our company, is going to be like um in

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<v Speaker 1>this you know, new normal, And they can find a

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<v Speaker 1>way to integrate into that. I mean, Zoom is talking

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<v Speaker 1>about like totally other events and and other other services.

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<v Speaker 1>So so I think're gonna go away, but you may

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<v Speaker 1>do viewers and calls. Well, we already had to do

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<v Speaker 1>one big transition. We're looking ahead to this other transition

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<v Speaker 1>point and it's you know, for these businesses to adapt

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<v Speaker 1>and kind of get in on that. So we'll see

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<v Speaker 1>how all of that plays out. Paul Zo bro reporter

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<v Speaker 1>at the Wall Street Journal, Thank you very much for

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<v Speaker 1>joining us, no problem, thanks for having me. I'm Oscar

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<v Speaker 1>Ramirez and this has been reopening America. Don't forget that.

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<v Speaker 1>For today's big news stories, you can check me out

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<v Speaker 1>on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday to Friday. So

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