3 Future Industries That Outperformed Due To COVID-19: Part 2

19th May 2020 

Although research on the impact of coronavirus on different industries is vast, some industries are worth mentioning as these industries are experiencing exponential growth. I covered some of them in part-1. We’ve highlighted the industries we left in part-1, here, and this is a continuation of the previous blog post posted on 9th April 2020.

Experts have written a lot about coronavirus and its impact on various aspects of our lives. In this post, part-2, we’ll delve deeper into what we left in part-1.

Gaming

Recent lockdowns have really affected our outdoor activities. We spend more of our time staying indoors than outdoors. Video gaming has become a billion-dollar industry for at least two decades. As the threat of coronavirus continues and people stay indoors, we’ll witness unbelievable growth in some industrial sectors in the coming months. Let’s do a fact check and see the current standing of the video game industry and where will it be in the coming times.

The NPD Group (National Purchase Diary Panel Inc.) has published its report on the video game industry analyzing recent trends in March 2020. According to the report, software sales grew 34% to $739 million last month compared to March 2019, and hardware sales grew an impressive 63%.

Another report from Verizon showed that there was a 115% growth in video game usage during COVID-19.

According to App Annie, a leading mobile app analysis platform, there was an increase of 40% weekly average downloads compared to the same month, March 2019, last year.

As this pandemic is ongoing, one can imagine the growth that these industries are poised for.

Cashless transactions/Cryptocurrency

I’m surprised at how pandemic changes the perspective. Before COVID-19, governments were reluctant to integrate blockchain technology in their financial channels. Now, every nation wants ‘contact-less/cash-less‘ currency.

Along with blockchain transactions, Visa, Amex, and Mastercard transactions have exploded. It seems though as cash transactions are quickly becoming a thing of past.

This pandemic has brought about big changes in our natural lifestyle. People don’t like to do a handshake, they want a 6m distance. In these circumstances, physical cash transactions seem impossible, paving the way for digital currency.

The future of cryptocurrency looks strong, and COVID-19 has just sped up its acceptance and adoption. There’s no doubt that cryptocurrency/blockchain is here to stay and ultimately will be beneficial to mankind, especially in times of pandemics and disaster.

Health and Lifestyle

Thanks to COVID-19, people, now, are taking their health seriously. They have more time to spend on health and lifestyle than they used to. People try to eat healthy food, especially food that helps to boost their immunity to fight bacteria and viruses.

Being healthy and fit used to be our choice, but now it looks as if it’s the government’s choice. Governments around the world are forcing you to be fit and healthy. For example, you can not enter a grocery store if your overall body temperature is elevated, even slightly. Out of fear of coronavirus, the shopkeeper will not allow you to enter if you’re not wearing a mask or if their thermal scanner is showing raised body temperature. If you are not healthy and fit, they’ll not allow you on their premises. In short, you should be healthy enough to buy groceries.

Now, to ensure health, we try to eat healthy and exercise more while staying at home. As we get more cautious about our health, home exercise programs and the fitness equipment industry are well-positioned to boom.

Live-to-stream fitness classes have surged 513%. Sales of fitness accessories and equipment have skyrocketed. Data from online e-commerce websites show an increase of almost 100% in the sale of fitness equipment such as yoga mats and dumbbells.

Conclusion

So far, the industries mentioned in part-1 and part-2 were worth mentioning up till now because we witnessed exponential growth in them. As time is changing fast, each day brings about new research about the novel coronavirus and its effects on our fastly changing world, changes keep coming, so stay tuned, there may be more parts to come.

Tags: COVID19, outperformed, future, industries