Reimagining Post-Covid Society

Amazon has profited handsomely from the pandemic as have entertainment streaming and video conferencing platforms like Netflix and Zoom. Major losers include the taxi apps like Uber because, of course, people are not taking taxis. Office sharing businesses seem to be struggling as people discover home working is preferable and accommodation booking companies like Airbnb and Oyo simply because people have been staying at home. What these companies have in common is that they rely on an app, they offer nothing new other than the technology.

Facebook, Amazon and Google differ by providing something which did not exist before. They also benefit from the network effect; the more of your friends who are on a social network the greater the likelihood you will choose it against others. Take the success of the ”new” Hawick Chat with around three and a half thousand followers in weeks and the relative popularity of Facebook against Twitter in the town.

The network effect is not so obvious in businesses offering office sharing or taxi style services because convenience matters above brand loyalty. Most taxi firms now have their own app and the Uber effect has largely ignored small marketplaces where volume is of less interest.

Hawick may be able to benefit from these lessons. As a landlocked island our local transport is mainly interested in an area within five miles of the town. If all forms of transport used a single app then capital costs for the community could be kept down which is a major contributor to journey cost. Innovative choices like calling an e-cargo bike to deliver your shopping while you walk home or shared taxis, common in rural parts of Africa could bring the cost of town trips down. Locally available e-bike hire could enhance leisure transport opportunities.

An app connected to national and international travel booking sites could reduce the cost of marketing for accommodation providers and present opportunities for more innovative offerings. This might include more heating and space efficient accommodation to be made available in redundant mill buildings, glamping and wild camping even the quirky, like the caravan up a tree on offer via Airbnb in The Highlands.

Rather than exporting money from Hawick to the owners of eat-out and eat-in ordering apps a reliable local facility could present new markets for innovative food offerings and lower cost for the restaurant or take-away with a more equal presence than might currently be possible against national chains. It might even be possible to share delivery facilities to enhance earning opportunities for delivery people, reduce the number of journeys and enable customers to order from more than one outlet at the same meal.

A Greener Hawick could be the organisation which develops such offerings as they all, in one way or another, decarbonise our society. They offer opportunity to build interest in non-hydrocarbon fuel driven vehicles; make home delivery of food more efficient and therefore less carbon-hungry; reduce the number of vehicles required to provide local transport; encourage visitors to the area to stay by offering a wider range of accommodation types and perhaps even educe a few by showing how the fuel efficiency has been achieved.