With the COVID-19 global pandemic installed, business trends had to adapt and change to have their services online and on-demand.

  • Consumers believe healthcare and sanitation products sold well during the pandemic.
  • Preventive healthcare, logistics services, and food delivery are the top 3 business ventures as per the survey.
  • People want to earn online but refuse to engage in side-income activities on the digital landscape as they pay more attention to their current job.

As the world is currently submerged in a pandemic situation, people worldwide showed efforts to adapt to the new normal situation. In terms of employment, many have experienced a salary cut to job loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, many individuals — specifical entrepreneurs — are curious about what can be successful ventures during these challenging times of economic uncertainties.

In this Real Research survey, we have gathered the general public’s opinion on the current business and commerce trends observed in the recent months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the digital industry undoubtedly experienced a massive adoption during the pandemic, most of the operations shifted online. There are specific digital businesses that have been pointed out by the respondents.

Also Read: McKinsey Insights: Healthy Organizations Lead to Healthy Businesses

When asked about what they think are the prospering businesses during a pandemic, the majority (46%) of the respondents believe face masks and sanitation products trading businesses performed well as sales skyrocketed. Companies in this line of business also profited well from the COVID-19 global situation.

Next, people observed growth in online learning courses enrollment (13%). The rise in distance learning is apparently because of many students who are forced to remotely learn and those individuals who aim to upskill and be productive by making good use of time at home.

With only 3% difference, at third and fourth position on the poll are digital platforms: Digital applications and digital marketing-related businesses (86%) and e-commerce businesses (83%).

The survey asked a direct question on which products they think will be highly in-demand. This question aims to know the consumer’s perspective on the top-selling items during the pandemic and get good market insights from the poll.

Unsurprisingly, preventive healthcare items top the list with 369 votes (37%). This one is pretty obvious as healthcare items are top commodities people need to protect oneself in contracting the coronavirus.

It was followed by logistics and delivery service providers (24%), and restaurant food menu items (14%) and indoor entertainment services such as streaming services, games, and other media subscriptions (13%). All of these services were also timely due to the quarantine and stay-at-home safety measures implemented all over the world.

A paradox: People want to earn extra online but not other than their current jobs

The digital industry is booming as the pandemic pushed digitalization into another level. Due to this fact, we wanted to know if people are actually maximizing or planning to seize the opportunities of digital platforms online. But to our surprise, a paradox concluded the result.

We asked people if they have plans to try to earn money through online platforms and more than half (63%) gave us ‘Yes’ as an answer. Only 37% expressed disinterest in online earning activities and said ‘No.’

To dig deeper in the topic, we wanted to know if the current economic situation has sparked people’s interest to start generating money online as a part-time engagement or side income. But almost 75% of respondents gave us the answer of ‘No, nothing aside from my work.’

The majority, which comprises 726 respondents (73%), admits to not trying to earn online by other means besides their current jobs. They are not able to engage themselves in trying to monetize and earn from digital platforms because of their current work.

Hence, most people actually focused on their job and did not look into other income-generating activities online. This is an understandable paradox, as though they have the plan to earn online, they cannot engage in side-income activities as they want to focus on their work.

Various situations can explain these conflicting ideas. First, people focused on their work due to the adjustments and compromises of the work-from-home situation. The second reason, people know the economic turmoil brought about by an unprecedented virus, lay-offs were in trend in many sectors. Hence, as employee’s contribution and performance is under heightened scrutiny during this time, the data proves that fortunate employees who kept the jobs exerts more efforts to secure their employment.

E-Commerce is the Future

Real Research’s respondents still believe digital commerce is the path to take. About 95% of respondents said ‘Yes’, to the question ‘Do you think establishing an online shop would be an ideal business venture in 2021?’

For entrepreneurs, most the consumers believe e-commerce trading businesses will still be a good venture in 2021. This is quite a reliable consumer perception as people have more comfortability in purchasing online.

For the record, Amazon doubles quarter profit despite COVID-19 costs according to Financial Times. The COVID-19 lockdown truly boosted the marketplace’s profit by 40% in the second quarter of 2020 — the heightened lockdown period.

People have looked to e-commerce marketplaces for their daily needs. With possible risks of contracting the COVID-19 virus by going out to public places, many preferred to stay at home and avoid shopping in physical stores to safeguard their health.

Lastly, we included a question about whether respondents will recommend online shopping to their friends and family rather than going to the mall. With convenience and safety in mind, most respondents stated that they would ‘definitely’ suggest online shopping (66%) to their circle.

However, almost a quarter which consists of 244 respondents, said they would only ‘probably recommend’ online shopping. While 66 people are ‘unsure’ (7%) if they would refer the idea to their peers, only 27 people (3%) probably ‘probably not’ recommend it over shopping in malls.

In conclusion,  more consumers — including new users who have previously preferred in-store shopping — are attuned to purchasing their daily necessities online because it’s safer and convenient. Moreover, a great number of retail companies have joined the shift by launching their own online retail website or shopping application.

The digital revolution occurred dramatically amid the pandemic and people have seen how the coronavirus forced us to rely on digital platforms not only for almost all transactions and needs. There are a lot of ways to earn online and the digital economy is poised to be bigger in the coming years.

As a valuable insight for entrepreneurs, marketers, and others interested in opening their digital business, targeting consumers online is easier. Most consumers are exposed to online platforms now and probably always digitally-connected while at home. Hence, now is the best time to target consumers and advertise your services via digital channels.