Coronavirus Effect: Five Businesses That Are Succeeding Despite Pandemic
The COVID-19 is having a devastating effect on all segments of society and literally all spheres of life – from households and healthcare to the global economy and politics. With many people under lockdown, shops, gyms, and cafes shuttered, cash flow drying up, and staff on furlough, the virus outbreak continues to challenge different business sectors in all sorts of new ways.
At the same time, the economic slowdown instigated by the virus hasn’t hit all companies equally. While one business owner applies for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) with different options of CBILS interest rates to get support when they are losing revenue, other companies have proven to be uniquely suited to the crisis. Big and small, some companies are facing lots of new and returning customers and finding methods to forge ahead amid all these threats and issues. Let’s take a look at five business industries that have seen success during the coronavirus.
Online Retailing
As offices, gyms, restaurants, and bars are empty, and people tend to stay home to halt the spread of the coronavirus, that is created new opportunities for online retailers. Online shopping has indeed seen continued growth while online retailers have fared well throughout the pandemic.
The sales growth of Amazon has been impressive for the past decade, but the company faced an unanticipated boom from the quarantine as people could not go to stores to make purchases. On March 12, the beginning of the lockdown, the stock price of the company closed at $1,676.61 while by the end of June, it was almost $1,000 higher than just a few months earlier. During covid-19 outbreak Amazon have hired 175,000 people in fulfilment and delivery network to assist existing employees and satisfy increased customer demand. Also, as jobs in areas like travel, hospitality, and restaurants are lost or furloughed due to the crisis and many people have been economically impacted, the company has offered full-time and part-time roles in Amazon until their past employer is able to bring them back.
Delivery Services
Most delivery services also have responded to the crisis by incorporating contactless delivery options to eliminate risks of transmitting the virus between the customer and the driver. Taking advantage of this trend, delivery services partnered with supermarkets and convenience stores to allow consumers to purchase essential food, cleaning and hygiene products right without the need to leave their homes. What’s more, since social-distancing measures forced restaurants, cafes, and bars to close, many have decided to offer home delivery to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Cleaning Services & Personal Protective Equipment
As the fear of the coronavirus spreads, it’s only natural that professional cleaning services that clean and sanitise offices, homes, markets, commercial buildings, and medical facilities are in high demand. A lot of people are relying on proper cleaning services to keep their environment germs and virus-free. Therefore, business is gaining traction for cleaning services, and some are hiring additional employees as clients want a more frequent, thorough cleaning.
The same goes for personal means of protection, like hand sanitising products and face masks. The extensive use of personal protective equipment all through the COVID-19 pandemic period is boosting the growth in the eye and face protection and pharmaceutical segments. A lot of companies are reacting in different ways to provide business continuity and improve the resilience of their supply chain. Many of them turn to innovative methods to generate revenue and repurpose their production lines to join the fight against coronavirus. From perfume to hand sanitiser, luxury hotels to quarantine centres, TVs to face masks – businesses are changing track to fulfil needs and stay afloat.
Messengers & Video Conferencing Tools
Generally, apps that try to replace physical presence that typically require face to face meeting are gaining significance and high popularity. Since remote working has exploded due to the novel virus outbreak, Slack and Zoom have become obligatory communication tools in everyday life.
Between February 1 and March 25, Slack Technologies added 9,000 new paid customers, which is an 80% increase in comparison to the previous quarter. Not only are the brands adding more people, but users are also becoming chattier as the number of messages sent per user throughout a day increased by an average of 20% globally.
As for Zoom, this video conferencing tool has clearly been the most popular brand during a lockdown. In April the company crossed 300 million daily meeting participants, and their stock is up 120% over the year.
CBD Market
The use of CBD oil is widely applicable for many individuals around the world. CBD is well-known as a natural and effective supplement intended to help with various physical and mental ailments such as anxiety, depression, and anxiety-related disorder, chronic pain, insomnia/hypersomnia, etc.
Meanwhile, there is no question that with a pandemic sweeping the globe, recommendations to shelter at home, job loss, and uncertainty about the future, anxiety and stress levels are skyrocketing. This, in turn, leads to more severe problems like depression and insomnia. With so many countries in quarantine right now, many individuals are turning to self-care indulgences to keep themselves sane, which made a boost for purchasing CBD.
According to research conducted by Alphagreen, from the beginning of 2020, about eight million adults in the UK (15% of the population) have purchased CBD infused products worth £150 million, based on a survey of 5,000 adults. With such a sales surge, the market can reach £450 million by the end of 2020, which is a 50% growth compared to £300 million in 2019.
