Even through the turmoil of a global pandemic, business is a game of winners and losers. Admittedly, things looked bleak at the beginning of lockdown across the professional spectre, with business shutdowns, economic uncertainty and furlough concerns being the areas of focus.
However, once the dust settled on our new, temporary way of life and the future picture became a little clearer, it was apparent there were opportunities for many areas of commerce and industry to thrive. As such, we’ve seen plenty of businesses go from strength to strength and a number of industries see their stock explode in the last 12 months, thanks in no small part to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With many previously steady away sectors now offering up attractive returns – and business support providers offering a variety of funding options to burgeoning business, including sizeable small business loans, accessible bad credit loans and exciting venture capital and angel investor opportunities – it’s likely we’ll see a number of new businesses trying their hand in these high growth arenas.
Thinking ahead, then, what areas of business can we expect to see bigger and better than ever in a post-pandemic world?
E-commerce
Online retail was already well on the way to becoming the new normal before any of us had heard the word “coronavirus” uttered, but the impact of the pandemic – not least the almost comprehensive shutdown of brick-and-mortar retail and orders to stay at home – has only accelerated the growth of e-commerce.
To offer some context on the extent of that growth, British consumers spent £113 billion online in 2020 – a 48% rise from the year before. This included an 82% year-on-year rise in online food shopping, and a 76% increase in household goods.
With 2020 have opened up the door of e-commerce to many new, potentially previously sceptical consumers, don’t expect to see online shopping lose any ground once things get back to normal.
Cybersecurity
2020 was an entirely online year. We did everything via our computers at the peak of lockdown – not just our shopping but our work, our day-to-day admin and even our socialising and communication with the outside world. This unanticipated surge in demand for IT services has created a struggle for companies looking to protect their valuable data, and because of that investment in cybersecurity has grown significantly.
Because things won’t return to the way they were before in many working environments, businesses will have to think about their safety in a world of remote working, and efficient ways to allow all their employees to access central data regardless of where they are. This is all good news for cyber protection businesses, whose presence will be felt even more over the coming years.
Fast food and food delivery
With dining out off the table and eating from home basically the only option throughout much of lockdown, upgrading home meals to a takeaway or some other form of food delivery is an option many of us have employed on a much more regular basis than before. The convenience of food delivery, the sense of excitement that comes with a takeaway in the absence of other “everyday” luxuries and a generally higher amount of disposable income flying around means fast food and delivery stalwarts like Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have enjoyed a very successful 2020.
Perhaps with normal grocery shopping back on the table full time, one could expect something of a shift back towards more frugal dining this year. With that said, there’s no doubting we live in a culture of convenience, and the ease of access, range of choice and relative affordability that comes with food delivery should see it as much more of a figurehead in future years thanks to the past 15 months.