Ujaya Shakya: Postcard from Nepal

Ujaya Shakya (pictured) submits this  ’Postcard from Nepal’ about encountering the ‘New Normal’ for Nepal in 2020.

These are the unprecedented times, unlike to any pandemics or natural calamities including the devastating earthquake of 2015 in Nepal, certainly it was devastating for us as a country but thanks to numerous helping hands we did rise again.

But this time, the world around us is grappling with uncertainty across sectors and Nepal is no different. We all are facing a health, financial and social crisis, all at the same time and have no clue when this is going to end.

The pandemic has brought in massive changes in the way we live. Social distancing, work-from-home, online schooling, virtual events etc. are all visible changes that are affecting our everyday lives. Furthermore, there are other challenges, like new habit formations by the people in the ongoing challenges, as they say if people stop doing something for more than 60 days, they form new habits which could be big challenges or opportunities for most marketers like us.

At Outreach, we decided to look into this current situation more from the marketer’s eye and help our clientele to, cognize the ground realities of Nepal, so we can adapt our marketing plan for the current situation. We have put together those observations and release The “New Normal” for Nepal 2020 which is now available to be shared with our key clients.

Some of the key observations not very different from the South Asian region though there are specific interpretations with regard to Nepali consumers. People are priorities their spending into different segments as per the importance of the product categories in the current situation. The key emerging trends are: Personal hygiene, building strong immunity for protection against covid-19, saving money and online purchases though ecosystem for essentials & grocery are still not very strong or prominent across Nepal.

Beside these families are spending extra time together and interacting with their long-lost friends and distance relatives reviving on their old memories. These human stories can have a great potential to leverage in our brand communication and create more emotional bonds for our brands.

Similarly, with majority of men working from home now, in the culture where men are breadwinner in most cases, their bonding with their spouse is going to have the new realization to appreciate each other roles in the family. There is an opportunity to explore these human emotions particularly for brands that is trying to connect with urban women as their target group.

Home entertainment is increasing as consumers are spending more time in their homes. Thus, there is higher television viewership and digital engagements. With consumer preference to spend more time at home mostly with family, the definition of weekend entertainment is expected to change. Can we be part of their weekend!

For more information, please write at info@outreachnepal.com & get more comprehensive details on The “New Normal” for Nepal 2020.