With people forced to stay indoors, industries such as the nightlife, travel, hospitality, and entertainment sectors were hit hard. On the other hand, some industries have flourished during the pandemic, seeing record sales and an influx of new customers. Here are five industries that have boomed during (or because of) the pandemic.
Industries That Are Booming Since The Arrival Of COVID 19
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Medical Equipment/PPE Manufacturers
Unsurprisingly, demand for medical devices and personal protective equipment (PPE) has skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic. According to Teresa Hayes of The Freedonia Group, the demand for disposable masks will reach levels more than five times those seen in other global pandemics, such as SARS or H1N1. As a result of mask mandates and other health and safety regulations, there has been a surge in people buying not only PPE but also home medical equipment.
Hospitals have been dealing with an inundation of COVID 19 patients, overwhelming healthcare systems around the world, and leading to massive delays in treatments for patients with chronic illnesses such as cancer. Since many people haven’t been able to attend hospitals or local doctors during the pandemic, many are buying their own medical devices such as pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitors, and oxygen concentrators. Companies selling medical devices for hospital or home use are now essential. One such company is Sensoronics. Their website has a wide range of medical devices for hospital staff or home use.
The industry might see a dropoff in demand as the vaccination programme is rolled out across the globe, but many experts believe that the market will remain on the up as the behavioural and psychological effects of the pandemic linger for the foreseeable future.
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eLearning companies
While many non-essential businesses were forced to close their doors for good during the COVID 19 pandemic, some others thrived. The pandemic wreaked havoc on schools, forcing teachers to move online almost overnight. Virtual learning has been on the rise for several years now, but the pandemic has accelerated this shift, leaving eLearning companies in high demand. Demand for Learning Management Systems, content authoring tools, Chrome books, Zoom and other platforms that facilitate virtual learning surged in 2020, with the world scrambling to turn school classes, corporate training, and further education courses online.
While there’s no doubt that this shift has been tough for educators, who have had a steep learning curve, it’s unlikely that the eLearning industry will see much downturn post-pandemic. While schools are already trying to go back to in-class lessons, the threat of future lockdowns and the realisation during the pandemic that digital learning actually works should be incentive enough to keep the digital learning revolution going. In the near future, we can expect to see a rise in fully remote onboarding, corporate training, and higher education courses and a more blended learning approach in schools and colleges.
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Delivery companies
One of the side effects of lockdown, apart from a lot of home decorating, was a sharp increase in the popularity of delivery companies. At the peak of the pandemic, even those not in mandated lockdown were hesitant to leave their homes. This left a huge window of opportunity for the delivery service industry. Companies offering delivery of food and drink, essential items, and corporate packages became essentials.
Elderly people began to rely on delivery service companies to drop off their food and medication, and many companies which to forced to go fully remote had to rely heavily on courier services to deliver laptops and equipment to new hires. Data suggests that demand for food delivery apps doubled in the US between March and December 2020, while Uber and Postmates reportedly grew by 50% compared to 2019.
These behavioural and psychological changes to how we consume aren’t likely to go away overnight, suggesting that the boom in the delivery service is here to stay. For the near future, at least.
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SaaS companies
As the pandemic shut down stores and offices across the globe, the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry quickly took off. SaaS is a broad term encompassing businesses that provide services through software. According to a report by hubspot.com, the SaaS sector is now worth around $104.7 billion. While the sector was already one of the fastest-growing, the pandemic has served to fast-forward this growth in a big way. Many businesses were no longer able to use traditional marketing, advertising, and communication approaches, and so they were forced to seek out SaaS products such as Zoom, WordPress, and G-Suite.
A lot of organizations who had previously been fighting the digitalization process were able to see firsthand how well these SaaS products perform and how much they saved certain businesses during the pandemic. It’s highly unlikely that this newfound demand for SaaS products is going anywhere, with experts now predicting that the SaaS industry will double in value in the near future.
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Virtual fitness apps
Perhaps one of the best things to come out of the pandemic was the magnification of the importance of our health, mental and physical. With the extra time gained thanks to lockdown restrictions, health and fitness became a top priority. When gyms and fitness facilities were shut down around the world, people had to get creative with their exercise routines, turning their living rooms, gardens, and home offices into workout spaces.
The closure of gyms resulted in an all-time-high surge in sales of home gym equipment and yoga mats, while there has been a hike in new YouTube workout classes and virtual fitness apps. How this will play out post-pandemic is unsure. Hoards of people across the world who have taken up running and other free workout routines may no longer see the need to pay for a gym membership. Having said that, as the pandemic draws to an end, it’s likely that the majority of fitness freaks will flock back to gyms and fitness facilities to sweat it out.
Final Thoughts
As with everything in life, the pandemic brought incredible lows and some unexpected highs. Industries and global economies have been forced to adapt quickly to match the new needs of consumers and understand the behavioural and psychological changes that have come about as a response to the pandemic. While some industries have suffered tremendously under the strain of the pandemic, others have boomed, proving that in the face of adversity adaptability is key for survival.