Isolated consumers adapt to new work/study environment.

 

While the shift to working and studying from home has created a short-term surge in office supplies and technology sales, researchers are now looking at the next phase in consumer spending.

 

With many workers and students transitioning to work and study at home, office supplies and tech hardware have become household essentials in their own right. 

 

Office supplies and technology industries have seen retail sales lifts in a number of segments as consumers seek to be productive, connected, and organised remotely, according to The NPD Group.

 

“All of the dynamics at play have created a need for more supplies than usual, and magnified pre-pandemic trends pertaining to sustainable and digital solutions,” said Leen Nsouli, NPD’s office supplies industry analyst. 

 

“Office supplies is seeing a boost in SMART notebook sales as sustainability becomes more top-of-mind for consumers and appeal grows for reusable and eco-friendly options. In addition, the union of traditional supplies and technology means that for the longer term, manufacturers best positioned for the future are those adapting to create a complete and balanced model for consumers to easily travel from physical to digital under one umbrella,” she said.

 

Growth of work and school from home in the US:

 

General office supplies

 

 

Tech products 

 

 

Working from home: pros and cons

 

Increasing productivity is a win-win for businesses but with many Australians being ordered to work from home to try to stop the spread of COVID-19, this move could change how we work, according to a leading academic.

 

Productivity may suffer for companies that don’t have an established working from home culture, said University of NSW Business School Associate Dean of Research, Professor Frederik Anseel.

 

“Companies that did not yet have a culture of working from home in place, are suddenly shifting now very quickly,” he said.

 

“If you do not have the policies in place, the culture in place, the transition is difficult."

 

Technical difficulties

 

The usual first response in preparation for working from home is to plan for expected technical issues.

 

But Dr Anseel emphasised companies need to understand the problems that are difficult to predict, such as the coordination of tasks, and implement a strategy for them.

 

From a whole literature set of studies the benefits of working from home are “pretty robust” but only up to a certain amount of time, said Dr Anseel.

 

“If it’s for longer than that, then the negative impacts can overpower the benefits,” he said.

 

PHOTO CREDIT: UNSW