The coronavirus pandemic brought unprecedented changes in the global business landscape, and many companies suffered from it. As a result, many businesses had to adapt to continue operations even during lockdowns, and they had different experiences depending on their respective industries.
Your company may or may not have thrived during the pandemic, but you’ll also need to think about what happens after the pandemic. COVID won’t last forever, and things will get back to normal sooner or later, especially since some countries have relaxed their lockdown measures and have slowly started reopening their economies.
How will your business fare after the pandemic? How do you see it faring after the pandemic? It will likely depend on what your business is. Below are some of the businesses that will likely continue booming after the pandemic has ended.
Delivery Services
Delivery businesses have successfully gotten a toe-hold in the business landscape because COVID-19 kept most people indoors. People always need items and food delivered to them, so businesses focusing on these niches will be useful even after the pandemic. This is especially the case since the pandemic doubled the food delivery apps’ business; more people relied on grocery deliveries and other delivery services.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, analysts projected the market for food deliveries to reach $200 billion by 2025. As a result, startups will likely join in and focus on either food delivery services or other niches in the delivery industry since there’s good reason to believe that delivery services will stick.
E-commerce
One reason why delivery services are up is that e-commerce is up. Many physical stores still do not allow full capacity in their locations because of the COVID-19 pandemic. E-commerce sales have increased worldwide as more people started ordering items online because of this, while also being a convenient way to get daily necessities and other items without leaving home.
Because the pandemic proved that e-commerce is more convenient than going to a physical store and ordering something, e-commerce will still likely remain after the pandemic.
Fast-food franchises
As mentioned before, food deliveries are thriving during the pandemic because people are forced to stay at home and order their food online. Therefore, fast-food franchises have adjusted well and taken advantage of the current situation and the changing consumer behavior.
The fast-food industry might have suffered a few years back as drive-throughs became outdated. Customers became more interested in experiential dining where convenience is not the main focus. However, COVID-19 effectively changed the trend as people followed social distancing rules and ordered food through drive-through or deliveries.
Even restaurants that once made fast-food establishments seem irrelevant thanks to their experiential dining services had to adjust and have their own takeout options. If no customers are coming into fancy restaurants, the fancy restaurant will have to be more accessible to people staying and working at home.
The boom of the fast-food industry during the pandemic reminded people why it was popular in the first place.
Cybersecurity
Because many people have started working as virtual assistants or simply shifted to a work-from-home setup, their IT departments have struggled to keep their systems secure. Businesses had to invest in cybersecurity solutions to protect their systems scattered around the country as their employees use company workstations at home.
Some remote workers are now offered the option to continue working from home even after the pandemic, and cybersecurity services will remain to secure such remote work setups.
Remote Work Applications
Because many people still have the option to work from home, there’ll be a need for remote work software in the future. Businesses will need to invest in video conferencing, instant messaging, productivity tracking, and collaboration applications. Should businesses demand that their employees work in the office after the pandemic and still hire a virtual assistant or two, they’ll still need to invest in such applications to accommodate their remote workers.
Gaming
The COVID-19 pandemic kept many young people indoors with little else to do except attend classes and work. They won’t spend every waking moment doing schoolwork or office work, and they’ll need some means to unwind whenever they can.
Many people have started buying video games and gaming consoles, PCs, and mobile devices to play games on. By the end of August 2020, the U.S. saw $29.4 billion of video games being sold, and more purchases have likely been made to this day.
Some people also play video games as their primary job by streaming their gameplay on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch; the number of streamers skyrocketed during the pandemic. Among the popular games popping off in such platforms now include GTA V, Minecraft, Valorant, Among Us, and several Resident Evil titles, and most of these games aren’t free to play. The streamers will need to buy them to play them, and they’ll also have to purchase any new games that will come up to try them out and provide their viewers with more content.
As new games are released, and streamers influence their audience to play them, gaming businesses will continue to thrive with or without the pandemic.
Virtual Assistant Services
Virtual assistants are valuable during the pandemic as they were instrumental in keeping many businesses afloat when everyone had a hard time adjusting to remote setups. Businesses that decided to hire a virtual assistant in the Philippines benefited from cheap and quality service that businesses can rely on.
VA companies in the Philippines have helped many businesses grow and maintain their operations before and during the pandemic. Therefore, it only makes sense that virtual assistant companies will continue to be vital after the pandemic since there will be a constant demand for virtual assistant services.
Conclusion
How your business will look after the pandemic largely depends on what industry you’re in. If you’re operating in one of the industries above, there’s a good chance that your business will thrive once the pandemic’s over. On the other hand, if your business isn’t part of the industries above yet you can sustain your operations, your company will likely go back to its normal operations.
If your company is currently having trouble sustaining itself during the pandemic, you’ll need to rely on the best virtual assistant services around. Virtual assistants have successfully helped businesses ride out the pandemic by offering contingency plans if the normal operations are not working out.
You’ll also need a lockdown exit strategy so you can steadily restart your normal operations once everything is back to normal.
Sources:
https://www.uschamber.com/co/start/business-ideas/high-demand-businesses-post-pandemic
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/how-to-plan-company-future-during-pandemic/
https://expmag.com/2021/05/the-pandemic-saved-the-fast-food-industry/
https://unctad.org/news/how-covid-19-triggered-digital-and-e-commerce-turning-point