Lockdown made all of us confined at home. Everything from transportation to production suffered a halt. At first glance, it feels like businesses suffered severe losses. Like travel industry faced a loss of $4 trillion while the hospitality industry suffered a loss of $1.2 trillion. But there are a few industries that sustained and thrived even during the lockdown. A few of them blossomed and rocketed out even their previous profit like healthcare, fitness, entertainment, etc. Let’s have a look at a few of them!
Food and Beverage Industry
Food demand will exist till the human race exist. During the lockdown when everything was shut down, food and beverages were in high demand even more than before. In the first lockdown, we also saw a major shortage of food products, especially because of no transportation support. People were expecting the same shortage issue, so they started stocking up in the second lockdown. The online delivery domain experienced the highest boost as people preferred more online delivery for safety purposes. Do you know Zomato saw an uplift of $350 million in its revenue?
Entertainment Industry
As the lockdown came, theaters and cinema halls were forced to shut down. This initially impacted the overall revenue of the industry. But as people started finding new ways of entertainment, digital media blossomed exponentially. OTT platforms saw a significant upsurge in users. It experienced an uplift of 31% with a hefty revenue generation of $61.8 billion. The number of online video subscribers has reached 1.1 billion, which is 26% more than in 2019. Confined in their homes, people were finding escape in digital platforms for their entertainment. Online gaming and social media apps also emerged in new forms, with increasing users and tripled screen time. But what is the most interesting, online gambling sector grew enormously. According to experts, online casinos made around $6 billion dollars in the previous year and increased 33%! Nothing short of impressive.
Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals Industry
Doctors and hospitals were the life-saviors for humanity. The need for more hospitals and doctors was constantly increasing because of the pandemic. The pharmaceuticals industry was boosted with enhanced demands of medicines and health machinery. It is estimated that the medicine sale revenue will reach up to $1.18 trillion by 2024. The major experimentation and production of Covid-19 medicines have also caused the upsurge of the industry. The estimation says that in addition to a pandemic, the growing age of the population also enhancing the need for healthcare.
Ed-tech industry
Lives didn’t stop, even when people were at home during the lockdown. Colleges and schools took online mode. Distance learning was the only option left for the students to pursue their studies. People were opting for online programs and courses for developing new skills. Several online educational platforms like BYJUS, Udemy, Vedantu, etc. saw an upsurge in their revenue collection. The user enrollment doubled for them in the past 9 months. Several surveys show that parents are preferring online education for their children even after lockdown due to the fear of Covid-19.
Final Verdict
Lockdown caused setbacks to the global economy. Several laydowns and losses showed that various industries went into losses. But the real picture also shows some positive aspects of the economy. The food industry, ed-tech, healthcare, etc. showed an increase in their business revenues. Small online businesses and the fashion industry also boomed during the pandemic.
