We can now add the shift in economic activity to virtual markets and small towns in the high spending season of Eid to our list of the after-effects of the pandemic.

Franticly adjusting businesses to the vagaries of such times has left the big players too overwhelmed to narrate details of the strain of losing their share of the Eid economy to counterparts they hitherto did not consider competition. Market watchers and business leaders shared anecdotal evidence suggesting a remarkable upset.

Factors like uncertainty, fear, clipped family income, limited time and SOP-related tensions in markets altered the Eid market beyond recognition. The plane crash close to the holy festival further demoralised the last-minute shoppers.

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