Which Industries Have Thrived During COVID-19?

It's fair to say that COVID-19 was a pretty nasty shock to many industries around the world. As soon as the pandemic started in earnest and countries began closing their borders and locking down their cities, a lot of businesses, unfortunately, saw the writing on the wall and knew it would be the end for them. These businesses may have received some aid from their respective governments or bailout funds, but in the end, it was not enough for them.

However, despite adversity, some businesses thrived during COVID-19. These businesses either didn't need to operate face-to-face or, in some cases, actually performed better when their operations went virtual. When we were shut in our homes, these businesses provided services or products to us that we desperately needed, and boomed (or, at the very least, didn't go bust) as a result. Here are some of the industries that thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Takeaway restaurants

Despite not being able to seat customers, it's fair to say that restaurants that were capable of offering takeaway meals were mainly able to remain relatively stable during the height of the pandemic. This is because their business didn't necessarily revolve entirely around having customers physically present in their restaurants, but it's also because these establishments depended on a network of businesses that were also operating during the pandemic in order to keep them afloat.

Delivery services

Naturally, delivery services such as Amazon, Deliveroo, and Just Eat, as well as package companies like FedEx or DHL, survived the pandemic unscathed. Since we were all stuck in our homes, we needed people to deliver goods to us remotely, and these companies stepped up to the plate. If anything, many delivery services likely saw an increase in business as shoppers couldn't physically attend shops in order to acquire the goods they needed any more.

The casino industry

If you like to play a little Casimba blackjack, then you were in luck during the pandemic. Since a lot of the casino industry is online now, it was incredibly easy to access your favourite casino games during the pandemic. If you wanted to play some of the best casino games around, all you had to do was head over to your favourite site and log in. Casino websites were never dependent on footfall, so they managed to carve out a niche for themselves during the pandemic.

The gaming industry

In a similar way to the casino industry, gaming enjoyed a boom during pandemic times. Buoyed by the release of titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Doom Eternal, and Final Fantasy VII Remake, the gaming industry never troughed in the same way that many others did. Indeed, the pandemic saw the rise of many social gaming experiences that might have otherwise struggled to go viral; Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Among Us gave us the social interaction we were sorely lacking in our real lives.

Cleaning

During a pandemic, one of the most important services you could possibly avail yourself of would be cleaning. It's more important than ever to keep surfaces sanitised, and with public transport networks still running and some workplaces (i.e. hospitals) remaining open, cleaning was more important than ever. It still is, in many ways; the pandemic hasn't gone away, and as such, we need the services of cleaners and sanitisation staff now more than we ever have.

Fitness

Gyms may have struggled during the pandemic, but companies producing fitness equipment - as well as YouTubers and influencers creating fitness-related content on social media - enjoyed a robust income. YouTube tutorials on how to get fit without leaving the home skyrocketed in popularity, and people began buying things like dumbbells and even home treadmills or exercise bikes. Without being able to leave the house, we were all suddenly struck by how much we needed to keep up our fitness routines.

Personal tutoring

Many tutors worried that they wouldn't be able to sustain their businesses during the lockdown, but thanks to software like Zoom, this wasn't the case. Remote teaching became the norm, and many teachers now say they probably won't fully return to in-person teaching even when it's completely safe to do so. It's just more convenient and accessible for many to offer lessons online, so expect that to be one of the ways in which the landscape changes permanently "post-pandemic".

Healthcare

It's an unfortunate fact of life that pandemics result in severe illness, but it's a fact nonetheless, and as such, those working in healthcare needn't have worried about job security during the pandemic. It sounds hopelessly callous, but it needn't; without healthcare workers, we wouldn't have made it through the first wave, so we have our health professionals to thank for our continued survival as a society. If you're a key worker, as they call them in the UK, you should be celebrating yourself.

Supermarkets and grocery stores

As some of the few shops allowed to remain open during the pandemic due to constituting "essential services", supermarkets enjoyed a huge boost in business. Online delivery slots were almost impossible to obtain due to the number of people booking them, while the shops themselves were always busy. There may have been some arguments over what exactly constituted "essential items", but there's no doubt that our supermarkets and smaller grocery stores alike combined to make our pandemic just that little bit more bearable.

Alcohol

Studies have suggested that we drank more during the first wave of the pandemic. It makes sense; many turn to alcohol in order to help them cope with stressful or difficult situations, and this was arguably one of the most stressful and difficult situations any of us have ever had to cope with. As such, alcohol sales skyrocketed during COVID-19, likely helped in no small part by the fact that bars were closed in pretty much every country around the world.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)