The Big Winners from COVID-19

2020 is on its way out, and it can be said by now that financially speaking, there were a whole lot more ‘losers’ than ‘gainers’ from it. However, some businesses and sectors did manage to make a lemonade out of this global lemon. We’ve gathered a list of the big winners from COVID-19 and its consequences, and while some of the ones on this list are quite obvious, others may come as a surprise to you.

Food retailers

Of course, the supermarkets and grocery stores top this list. While other shops and retailers were forced to close down in accordance with different restrictions, this industry stayed open the whole time - and demand for its products was naturally high. However, it’s not only about canned food and toilet paper. Many of these stores, especially the smaller ones, took advantage of the fact that they were allowed to open in order to sell items that did not fall under the category of necessities, such as clothes, cookware, games or even electronics.

Delivery companies

It’s not much of a surprise that deliverers made a profit from the situation. What may baffle you is just how big those profits were. Leading food delivery app DoorDash, for example, reported a revenue of almost $2 billion in the first nine months of 2020 alone! And that’s just the food industry - think of all those other sectors who were limited to online sales.

Remember life without people delivering food to you? Neither do we…

Yaniv Bar, owner of the popular YankeeKicks online sneaker store, told us, “we were lucky, since we’ve already been delivering long before lockdowns began, and we had contracts signed with delivery service suppliers. I have heard of some deliverers, however, who inconsiderately raised prices, since they knew store owners had no choice but to work with them.”

Therapists

This is the side of the pandemic less talked about, sadly. While we are busy counting the sick and deceased, we pay less attention to those suffering from stress, anxiety, depression or many other issues as a result of the virus. This naturally led to a surge in need for psychological and psychiatric help - as well as other means, such as alternative medical treatments.

Since therapeutic sessions can be carried out virtually, rather than face to face, the industry boomed during this time of hardship. While there is no official worldwide data on the scope of this phenomenon, one can only imagine the growth in demand for therapist professionals - and their bottom-line profit in accordance.

Online stores

The Coronavirus had many stores shifting their business from brick and mortar to the World Wide Web. However, the big gainers are the ones who made the shift before 2020 and were already set up with the platforms, mechanism and infrastructure to sell online. As SnkrsDen’s Yaniv Bar put it, “if you entered the online retail game along with everyone else, it wasn’t much of a win for you, since the veteran players in the field knew the rules much better than you. My online store had been around for two years before the pandemic struck, so we didn’t need any time to adjust to this new reality - just to the rise in demand.”

Shopping online is much more comfortable - even when there’s no pandemic around.

Pharmaceutical sector

Well, this one probably won’t shock anybody. The big drug companies, mainly those involved in the process of developing and distributing the vaccine for COVID-19, saw huge profits. And that’s with a substantial rate worldwide of people refusing to get vaccinated.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop there. Many companies not directly involved with finding a cure for COVID-19 were also big winners here. Think, for example, of the medical equipment industry, and the rise in demand for respiratory machines. And that’s before we even start talking about mask and glove manufacturers or the factories making all of those freezers needed to store and ship the vaccines across the globe.

Garbage and sewage workers

While this might be a bit uncomfortable to discuss, it’s certainly worrying. The many hours we are forced to spend at home, combined with our love for disposable plastic materials, have created ecological problems. While the people who clean up our mess are glad to be receiving extra wage for their hard work, the planet is a bit less happy with what’s going on.

And we’re not only talking about landmasses of trash. Plumbers have reported a rise in demand, due to the use of many “disposable” cleaning products such as wet wipes and paper towels, which are carelessly washed down the toilet. The most concerning aspect here? This could all be avoided with a bit of care. All people need to do is cut back on plastics, make a bigger effort to recycle, and watch what they flush into the sewer system.

Separating waste really isn’t that hard.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes