Industries likely to see post-pandemic profits
Coronavirus brought the world to a standstill, and as a result many businesses are struggling to stay afloat. However, some industries have actually seen profits increase, and are likely to continue to do so post-pandemic, while other industries that are struggling now are […]
Industries likely to see post-pandemic profits
Coronavirus brought the world to a standstill, and as a result many businesses are struggling to stay afloat. However, some industries have actually seen profits increase, and are likely to continue to do so post-pandemic, while other industries that are struggling now are set to flourish once the COVID-19 crisis is over. Click or scroll through the sectors that are are going to boom, or continue to boom, in the aftermath of the pandemic. All dollar values in US dollars.
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Personal protective equipment
Personal protective equipment (PPE) has been one of the most talked-about resources of this pandemic. Demand has been off the charts, and nations that rely on imports from other countries such as China have noticeably been short of this vital equipment. In light of the devastating damage caused by coronavirus, there will be a call for hospitals to have stockpiles in place should similar crises break out in the future.
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Personal protective equipment
Most PPE has expiry dates, and so constant supplies of fresh equipment will be needed to keep reserves well stocked, meaning that manufacturers will be kept in business to meet the new demand. Digital ‘smart’ PPE is also a rapidly emerging market, as manufacturers seek to make equipment as safe and easy to use as possible. For example, smart safety glasses are taking the world of PPE by storm; not only do they protect the eyes, they can also supply information to the wearer while they carry out their job. From traditional masks to high-tech equipment, the PPE industry is set to boom for years to come.
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Online meeting platforms
Virtual meetings have brought an element of normality into our work-from-home lives. One of the companies at the forefront of the industry, Zoom, has boomed during the crisis, and saw its stock price surge by over 100% in just two months. Google made the premium features of its platform Google Hangouts free until the end of September, and Microsoft saw daily users of its software Teams jump from 32 million to 44 million during March. And it’s likely these platforms won’t disappear once everyday life is back to normal either…
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Online meeting platforms
Now that most companies have had to adapt to allow employees to work from home, it’s likely that there’ll be more flexibility for remote working in the future. Having honed their home working space and enjoyed the lack of a commute, many workers may opt to work from home more frequently. In fact, 25-30% of the US workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021, according to estimates by Global Workplace Analytics. With that in mind, platforms provided by Microsoft, Google, Zoom and others are likely to still be in high demand to keep colleagues connected even when everybody is allowed back in the office.
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Dating apps
Dating apps have become the go-to means of finding a partner, but there was a global slowdown in app downloads as it became the norm. There was a 32.5% growth in dating app users in 2016, but this decelerated to just a 5.3% increase in 2019. But as the COVID-19 outbreak prohibited nearly all face-to-face meet-ups, there was a new surge in downloads and interactions through the likes of Tinder, Bumble and Hinge. On 29 March alone, Tinder users across the world swiped through three billion possible matches, which is more than any other day on record. In the US, the number of app daters was set to hit 26.6 million, an 18.4% increase on 2019, according to eMarketer.
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Dating apps
And there’s a good argument that this trend may be set to stay. Real-life dates can be very expensive, and so vetting a person through an app first is a cheaper and more efficient way to work out whether the relationship is worth pursuing, which may be a big factor in the post-pandemic economic fallout. In 2019, it was already predicted that more people would be meeting their partner online than in real life by 2035, and it seems the current crisis has only amplified our dependence on the virtual world when it comes to finding “the one”.
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Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is always big business, but an increasing dependency on digital tools such as virtual meeting platforms means that our data is more susceptible to hacking than ever before. Coronavirus has proven to be one of the biggest threats to cybersecurity, as scammers are taking advantage of the world’s uncertainty around the disease. Spam email campaigns have been particularly popular: in the UK, for example, hacking attacks targeted at people working from home made up 12% of malicious email traffic before the first lockdown, but that figure rose to 60% just six weeks later. Many attackers are using the names and logos of trusted companies and bodies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), to get users to click on dangerous links, according to cybersecurity company Proofpoint.
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Cybersecurity
The pandemic has pushed companies to move their services online, and for many that move was rushed, meaning that not all the necessary steps may have been taken to ensure that data such as customer details are as protected as they need to be in this age of rising cybercrime. Cybersecurity budgets were already increasing year on year before the spread of coronavirus, and the growing threat posed by the COVID-19 outbreak is only going to accelerate the trend of businesses spending more on their online safety measures.
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Online teaching
Many parents had to become teachers overnight as schools across the world shut, and online learning resources boomed in response. In China, technology was already an increasing part of the traditional education system, with AI resources supplementing, and in some cases replacing, real-life teachers. The restrictions put in place as a result of coronavirus forced the education system to move online. Now that initial step has been taken, many of those temporary alterations to the traditional classroom experience will become permanent changes, according to a global study conducted by Pearson Education.
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Online teaching
It isn’t only schoolchildren that were left high and dry, as most university students were sent home to finish the last academic year remotely. As they have now returned for the 20/21 academic year, many universities have seen outbreaks of COVID-19 on campus and a lot of universities have committed to online lectures for the whole year. When asked about the future of technology in education, 63% of university leaders predicted that prestigious universities would have full university courses available for online study by 2030, according to a survey carried out by Times Higher Education.
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E-learning resources and classes
And it’s not just students turning to online resources. Lockdowns prompted many to try and master a new skill to pass the time, for example popular online languages app Duolingo saw a 148% increase in sign-ups in the US during March. It is possible that the sudden enthusiasm for skill mastering will only last until normal life resumes, but it could be the case that the ease and low cost of pursuing new hobbies from home will mean that e-learning companies will continue to see success.
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E-learning resources and classes
The internet is also awash with virtual workshop platforms such as MasterClass, and they’ve seized the opportunity to entertain and educate people who are looking to fill their time. Cookery lessons with top chefs including Gordon Ramsay, writing classes from best-selling authors such as Dan Brown and drama classes from the likes of Natalie Portman are among the courses that users can pay for. Even after the coronavirus pandemic passes, world-class speakers aren’t something that everybody will have access to, and as MasterClass reached a valuation of $800 million (£615m) in May 2020, with a view to eventually go public, the site seems like it’s only set to get more popular.
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Online fitness
Valued at almost $100 billion (£80.4bn) before coronavirus hit, it’s safe to say that the fitness industry was already booming. When many gyms and fitness studios had to close their doors temporarily, those able to offer their fitness services online reaped the benefits. British fitness instructor and TV personality Joe Wicks quickly adapted and during lockdown hundreds of thousands of households tuned in for his child-friendly YouTube workouts each morning (pictured). Wicks raised his profile globally, as well as a lot of money for charity. Similarly, actor Chris Hemsworth’s fitness app Centr saw a 300% increase in downloads in April, while interactive at-home fitness system Mirror saw product sales double during the pandemic, according to CNN. But what will home fitness look like after the pandemic?
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Online fitness
Many fitness fanatics returned to the gym (albeit socially distanced) after the first lockdowns ended, but had to return to home workouts in second and third lockdowns. Once gyms finally reopen for good the finance-conscious and those who appreciate the privacy and flexibility of exercising at home may be keen to stick to their new exercise schedules. The science behind habit formation suggests that exercising regularly over a prolonged period of time – on average between one to two months – will build it into a habit, and so many home fitness fans are likely to keep up their pandemic workout plans. Potentially good news for the online fitness industry.
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Video games
The coronavirus pandemic has offered existing gamers time to hone their skills, as well as the opportunity for non-gamers to see what all the fuss is about. In March, the release of Nintendo game Animal Crossing: New Horizons saw higher sales than all of the series’ previous games combined. Similarly, game streaming platform Twitch saw a 10% increase in its global usage in the same month, according to gamingindustry.biz. Video games sales are definitely on the rise thanks to the pandemic, and it’s possible that gamers may find it difficult to shake the habit once the world returns to its pre-COVID-19 state.
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Video games
The pandemic has also “popularised and legitimised” esports – playing sports competitively via a console. Esports had initially looked to suffer at the outbreak of coronavirus as the games rely on live sporting events, and 75% of esports revenue has historically come from advertising and broadcasting. However, when live sports stopped, esports offered fans a way to keep the games going, and it is only set to expand as sports leagues use the medium to engage younger fans. Overall, the future of the video games industry is strong as it is predicted to continue to grow from its current market size of $167.5 billion (£129bn) to $291.16 billion (£224bn) by 2027.
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Children’s toys
With children across the world having spent much of 2020 and perhaps some of 2021 at home, toys haven’t seen the dip in sales that other industries have suffered – in the US there was 16% growth in toy sales in the first six months of 2020. Games and puzzles were the biggest sellers, making up 37% of the market, while outdoor toys, building sets and arts and crafts were also popular. In the UK toymaker Hornby, which makes Scalextric car sets and Corgi cars, saw a 33% boost in sales in the six months to September, with more than a third of sales coming from outside the UK as online shopping boosted its results. This helped the previously ailing firm return to profitability. But this isn’t just a boom during the pandemic…
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Children’s toys
Children’s toys are set to see growth in the years following the coronavirus pandemic too, with the market expected to expand by 4% every year between 2019 and 2025. In fact, the global industry is forecast to grow by $30 billion (£22.7bn) between 2020 and 2025, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. The industry is set to continue to benefit from trends caused by the pandemic, with parents having sought out non-digital and more traditional distractions to limit children’s screen time.
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Entertainment streaming services
Netflix has come a long way since its beginnings as a postal DVD rental service back in 1998. Over 20 years later, it is the best-known film streaming service in the world and has 200 million subscribers worldwide. The success of Netflix has always been hard to predict, and its stock price was fluctuating before the coronavirus outbreak. But the closure of cinemas across the globe meant it added many subscribers as people stayed home. As the first major streaming service to win the world over, Netflix has gained a lot of loyal fans, and while 47% of users would have been happy to pay more for the service in December 2019, that figure rose to 55% in May 2020, according to MarketWatch. And in both the US and UK this has become a reality, with Netflix raising prices for its standard and premium tiers in October and January respectively.
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Entertainment streaming services
Disney+ launched in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand in November 2019, and the platform reached the rest of Europe at the end of March 2020, and by the end of the year had more 86 million subscribers. Amazon has also seen its streaming service benefit from the pandemic. Analysts predict that on-demand services will increase by 81% over the next five years to reach 1.16 billion subscriptions worldwide.
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Online supermarket deliveries
Grocery delivery slots quickly became like gold dust when vulnerable people were advised to stay at home. It has also bolstered business for supermarkets such as Walmart in the US, as well as the UK’s online-only supermarket delivery service Ocado. After reporting a £45 million ($56m) deficit last year, Ocado experienced such high demand that it had to turn away orders in March when its website became overrun with customers. The virtual supermarket then raised its full-year profit expectations from £40 million ($52m) to £60 million ($78m) as it continued to thrive during the pandemic.
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Online supermarket deliveries
Now as coronavirus cases have risen once again, it’s expected that the industry will continue to grow, with studies by British supermarket Waitrose suggesting that the changes to grocery shopping habits are “irreversible”. Online shopping is set to make up 6.4% of the global grocery sales by the end of 2021, which is higher than the pre-coronavirus prediction of 4.6% of sales, according to Rabobank International’s forecasts.
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Food delivery
Many restaurants and cafés scrambled to facilitate takeaway orders so they could continue operating after closing their doors during lockdown, and some delivery businesses such as Uber Eats waived delivery fees for independent eateries to help keep them afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. Anything from pizzas to pulled pork was ferried from commercial kitchens to people unable to leave their homes.
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Food delivery
After trading at limited capacity, many bars and restaurants across the world have now closed again, leaving takeaway and delivery services as the only option for those looking to avoid the washing up. The food delivery industry was set to be worth $41 billion (£31.5bn) in 2021, but thanks to the pandemic it hit $45 billion (£34.6bn) in 2020, according to investment banking company Morgan Stanley. The current crisis has accelerated a trend that was already in motion, and food delivery is now set to make up 21% of the restaurant market by 2025, whereas pre-pandemic it was predicted to account for 15% of the market by the same year. One particular success story in the sector is Finnish food delivery start-up Wolt, which saw its revenue triple to $345 million (£252m) in 2020, and it now works across 23 countries including Germany and Japan. It has since raised $530 million (£386m) in funding, and is planning to go public in 2022 off the back of its success during the pandemic.
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Online shopping
Perhaps unsurprisingly home delivery services such as Amazon are also benefitting from the pandemic. With people stuck at home, online orders were the only way to shop for non-essential items, and Amazon’s share price has gone through the roof. Online shoppers spent around $11,000 (£9,000) a second on the site according to newspaper The Guardian, and the money spent now will likely help the international delivery giant expand even further.
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Online shopping
This increase in sales has added to the eye-watering wealth of CEO Jeff Bezos (pictured). Bezos saw his wealth increase by more than $70 billion (£54.9bn) in 2020. The Amazon boss’s increased wealth is largely down to our dependence on virtual shopping – right now online shopping makes up 16.1% of retail sales worldwide, but that figure is estimated to rise to 22% by 2023, according to eMarketer, showing that our love of buying with a couple of clicks isn’t set to end any time soon.
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Major supermarkets
While Amazon may have been swooping in on the business of smaller retailers hit by the pandemic, other big brands such as Walmart are certainly holding their own. Having thrived during the 2007-8 recession it’s perhaps unsurprising that Walmart is one of the big retail winners of this crisis, and it enlisted 150,000 new members of staff to handle the spike in shoppers. Fellow American retailers Kroger and Costco have also seen similar increases in customer demand, as have similar general stores across the world.
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Major supermarkets
Keeping American homes well-stocked throughout the crisis comes with additional perks as it has also done wonders for Walmart’s reputation. In a recent survey carried out by the Path to Purchase Institute, Walmart is now rated as the most trusted supermarket in America, and it is likely that the nation will stay loyal to the grocer and continue to shop there long after the pandemic is over.
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Legal services
While lawyers and solicitors can work from home like everybody else, lockdowns and more time spent at home are likely to be brewing a spike in cases for them to deal with once restrictions are fully lifted. In fact it’s already happening. When China started to move out of quarantine divorce rates in the country doubled as a result of couples being cooped up together for a number of months, while in the US divorce rates jumped 34% due to lockdown. As a result, those working in family law have been inundated with cases. Divorce rates normally see an increase after the summer and Christmas holidays, and now that coronavirus has dominated the winter too, the number of couples separating as a result will likely also be greater.
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Legal services
Lawyers that deal with the sale of homes may also see work increase as many city dwellers have decided to move to the country after spending lockdown in cramped inner-city accommodation. In the UK this is already the case, with one in seven Londoners saying they want to leave the capital because of COVID-19, with 46% of those people already planning on leaving the city, according to the London Assembly Housing Committee.
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Pharmaceuticals
Billions of dollars are being pumped into the pharmaceuticals industry as companies such as Pfizer and Moderna create vaccines against COVID-19. The importance of continuing infectious disease prevention and treatment research now that several coronavirus vaccines have been found is huge, so that the world can be prepared for any future pandemics. The drug discovery market continues to climb in value, and it’s projected that it will be worth $71 billion (£54.6bn) by 2025, which is more than double its 2016 value, according to market and consumer data site Statista. Stocks in biotech companies have also shot up, and this global crisis has demonstrated how crucial the pharmaceuticals industry is.
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Pharmaceuticals
While the news of successful vaccines for coronavirus boosted pharmaceutical shares, and underlined the importance of the drug discovery market, other industries also saw shares rise off the back of their success, notably the airline industry. When the Moderna vaccine was revealed, United Airlines saw its shares increase 8.6%, while International Airways Group (which owns British Airways) rose 12%, and also saw a 40% increase after the announcement of the Pfizer vaccine.
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Cleanliness products
Shelves were cleared of antibacterial hand gels and soaps as soon as it became apparent that an infectious disease was spreading, and months into the crisis those living in affected countries have become experts in the art of thorough handwashing. Good hygiene practices have become such an intrinsic part of our day-to-day routine that going back seems impossible.
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Cleanliness products
Looking through history, previous pandemics and epidemics have changed how people at the time behaved when it came to personal hygiene. For example, the 14th-century Black Death prompted authorities to improve street cleaning and change water maintenance practices. With additional hand sanitising stations having been installed in most public places and businesses, it’s safe to say that companies distributing hand washing products are unlikely to go out of business anytime soon.
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Remote medical services
Hospital emergency departments across the world saw a massive slump in numbers of patients coming in to seek emergency medical attention. It’s understandable that people want to avoid visits to hospitals and doctors at the moment, and while medical staff are urging the sick to seek help as they normally would, it is likely that many are instead relying on remote medical services for advice. In fact, the US and Australian governments have approved reimbursement for video-link consultations to keep people away from hospitals, while the UK’s National Health Service has launched a chatbot for coronavirus advice.
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Remote medical services
Systems such as NowGP in Europe and Teladoc Health in the US are seeing users flock to their platforms as the pandemic discourages people from leaving home. Remote diagnosis and treatment service Zipnosis reported a staggering 3,600% increase in its usage as a result of coronavirus. Governments are recognising the importance of offering virtual treatment where possible, and in March the US government announced that there would be an expansion of such services across America. This is likely to become a global trend, and the telemedicine sector is set to grow to $16.7 billion (£12.8bn) by 2025.
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Electric cars
Earlier this year the travel industry was forced to a standstill as a result of the pandemic. Most of the world was banned from non-essential travel, and oil prices plummeted as a result. But the traditional car-making industry was already in trouble before COVID-19 hit, thanks to growing awareness of the environmental impact of diesel- and petrol-run cars. The pandemic has merely boosted the green argument, as satellite imagery from the European Space Agency showed a dramatic decrease in the amount of air pollution across the world last spring when many were in lockdown compared to the same time in 2019. And so cars built on green technologies may have better luck…
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Electric cars
Electric car producer Tesla saw its share price go up by 492% in 2020, and its CEO Elon Musk is now the richest man in the world according to Bloomberg, while car-maker Audi has created a new department called Artemis that is focused solely on getting its electric vehicles to market quicker than planned. It’s clear that more and more people are putting ‘better for the environment’ on their car-hunting checklist, and this trend is only likely to continue as lockdown has shown us how quickly air pollution can be cleaned up when fewer people are on the roads. In fact, the French government only agreed to bailout Air France-KLM if the airline group would agree to some green conditions, including slashing its carbon dioxide emissions by half. At the end of June, France committed €15 billion ($16.9bn/£13.5bn) to make its economy greener.
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Electric scooters
Before the pandemic electric scooters were seeing an increase in usage, even overtaking docked bikes in popularity in the US in late 2019. But coronavirus could be the real making of the electric scooter industry. Despite controversies over safety in the past, more and more cities have given electric scooter companies such as Bird, run by Uber, and Lime the green light. And now that the pandemic has led many cities to impose social distancing measures that restrict cars in many of the world’s urban areas, the perfect storm for scooter rental companies has been created.
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Electric scooters
Rome authorised electric scooters on 1 March 2020, just as the pandemic was taking hold, and when the country came out of lockdown over the summer the city was awash with scooters as Romans avoided public transport and made the most of clearer streets. The Italian authorities also see the scooters as a viable greener alternative to cars and mopeds in the future and on 3 June Rome’s mayor held a press conference with scooter provider Bird to promote their benefits. Other cities are also expecting a boom: the UK authorised the use of e-scooters from 4 July 2020, and as London has now created car-free zones – the biggest in Europe in fact – electric scooters are predicted to remain popular post-pandemic. The global value of the electric scooter market is set to soar to more than $30 billion (£23.1bn) by 2025, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com.
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Cycling
As people avoid public transport in many cities in order to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus, many have turned to traditional methods of getting around. While walking is popular, the cycling industry is already benefitting from the pandemic as more people are travelling on two wheels. From late March the UK’s Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) reported a boom in bike sales and bike repairs, while the US’s National Association of City Transport Officials (NACTO) reported an “explosion in cycling”, and Eco-counter noted that the southwest of America saw a 100% increase in bike use in the first weeks of May.
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Cycling
The trend is set to continue after the pandemic as governments are encouraging the usage of bikes. In America, New York has closed 140 miles of streets to cars to allow for bikes and pedestrians, while Seattle has permanently shut 20 miles of roads. In the UK, prime minister Boris Johnson pledged £2 billion ($2.6bn) to the cycling cause, offering £50 ($65) vouchers for bike repairs, bike lessons for everyone, and the introduction of thousands of miles of new bike lanes across the country. And as with scooters, electric bikes (e-bikes) are also seeing a sales lift. UK retailer Halfords has reported a 230% rise in e-bike sales, while the global e-bike market, worth $15.42 billion (£11.7bn) in 2019, is predicted to grow by 7.49% every year between 2020 and 2025.
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Gardening
The pandemic saw those in lockdown turn their attention towards their gardens, providing a boost in sales for home and garden retailers. Even city dwellers were making the most of limited space, with balcony gardens and vegetable patches common. In fact, the growth in the market led French garden chain Truffaut to open a new store in Paris on 17 July 2020, bucking the trend of other bricks-and-mortar stores that are struggling to bounce back from lockdowns and the incoming economic crisis. The chain has also benefitted from online sales and a new delivery service boosting its profits.
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Gardening
During the UK’s first lockdown British garden centres saw a boost in online sales, as gardeners had more time on their hands to spend tending to their plants and crops. This continued when shops finally reopened, and garden centres and DIY stores led the 12% rebound in retail sales in May, after an unprecedented fall of 18.1% in sales in non-food stores in April. As lockdowns have reignited gardeners’ passion for time outdoors and gave non-gardeners the bug, the industry is set to do well post-pandemic, and the gardening tools market is set to reach $105.53 billion (£81bn) by 2025 at an annual growth rate of 4.2%, according to Market Research Future.
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Experiences
“What’s the first thing you’ll do once everything’s back to normal?” is one of the questions likely being asked around dinner tables all over the world. Having so much time on our hands means more time for dreaming about things we’d rather be doing, and as coronavirus has been a striking reminder that life is short, many will likely be keen to start crossing items off the bucket list once restrictions are lifted. Just as coronavirus was starting to gain traction in late February, there was a surge in ticket sales for Virgin Galactic’s inaugural space flights. But space isn’t the only destination that people are eyeing up for after the pandemic…
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Experiences
As well as once-in-a-lifetime experiences, smaller local attractions have gained popularity as research shows that people are more likely to stay closer to home and take trips to zoos and theme parks. From spaceships to ferris wheels, it’s clear that we’ll be keen to get out of our homes and experience something new as soon as we can.
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Private jets
Initially the private jet industry, like the rest of the travel sector, experienced a slump when coronavirus swept the globe and led to stay-at-home orders and restricted socialising. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued the private jet market has started to see an unexpected boost, bucking the overall travel trend.
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Private jets
Why? Those who would usually fly commercial have started using private flights so that they can get a holiday during the pandemic. No longer just for celebrities and the super-rich, more affluent families have now started using private flight services. In November 2020 private jet company PrivateFly told Wired that business was up on the same time in 2019, with the boost driven by families. In fact, 20% of its flyers were children.
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