Tough times carry within them golden opportunities for those who think differently! In the past six months, the world witnessed an unprecedented global crisis that took away hundreds of thousands of lives and wreaked havoc on a myriad of businesses. After long days of COVID 19 lockdowns and consecutive business halts, the planet seems to be finally spotting some positive outlook. Now that most of the countries are reporting less number of cases and deaths, going back to normal seems closer than ever before. The world is now slowly recovering and governments are starting to ease the strict precautionary measures they previously adopted.
The impact of coronavirus
Despite the recent alleviation of lockdown measures, the negative impact of COVID 19 on the global economy is too hard to ignore. Economists have revised down their expectations for global economic growth of 2020 to 2.4% from 3%, while multiple countries have already started to report sharp drops in employment and production figures. The outbreak of COVID-19 has also had far-reaching negative effects on most of the business sectors that are still struggling to get over their continued losses.
On the flipside, the coronavirus lockdowns looked like a silver lining for other businesses. As opposed to the traditional business activities, some industries managed to capitalize on the fact that people are staying home and spending much of their time on the internet. The following eight industries did not only prove to be resilient under the pandemic crisis, but also came out with marked gains that are seen to be continuing even after the COVID 19 story is all over.
- Virtual communication
Global search advisory giant Gartner reported in March 2020 that 88% of the world’s organizations have encouraged or requested their employees to work from home amid the coronavirus outbreak. As people had to work remotely, applications that simulate the office environment or facilitate communication met a very pressing need in the market.
Online video communication and virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams have recorded unprecedented surges in downloads and usage data. The number of daily active users on Zoom, for instance, soared from 10 million to over 200 million in a matter of a few months, while Microsoft Teams saw the number of its users jumping from 32 million to 44 million in March only.
These apps are expected to continue booming across various industries, even after the pandemic, thanks to their ability to keep high levels of productivity and flowing communications. This would most likely be the case as more businesses are now reconsidering their remote work policies to make them more flexible.
- E-learning
Schools and universities have shut down in many parts of the world. Online education has quickly seized the opportunity and emerged as a successful alternative for conventional classes. Students who found themselves home isolated resorted to the digital e-learning platforms to complete their courses online.
In another vein, many people found the quarantine a great opportunity to learn a new skill through online courses and virtual training programs. The coronavirus outbreak seemed to do a favor for the online education market that was already expected to grow in 2020, making it one of the fastest growing sectors all over the world.
- Online fitness
Just like every online business benefiting from the losses traditional businesses incur, the online fitness industry took advantage of the closure of gyms and fitness centres in many countries. People, who had no option but to stay home, flocked to the online fitness platforms to offset the absence of their daily exercise routine. From online yoga classes to workout apps, many people turned their rooms into a small gym and aviled the available online tools.
The global virtual fitness market, which was valued at around $6 million in 2019, is believed to be doubling the growth and exceeding expectations through 2020. This could be clearly evidenced in the increasing sales figures of sports equipment manufacturers and healthy food brands as well as the rising number of followers on the fitness influencers’ social accounts on local and global levels.
- Gaming
Video games were already gaining popularity before the pandemic. After the worldwide lockdowns, however, the gaming industry figures spiked unceasingly. Video game development companies were among the top gainers with geek gamers spending more time playing games and new non-gamers jumping in.
The accelerated growth started as early as the quarantine measures were first announced. 4.3 million video games were sold worldwide in the week from March 16 to March 22, marking a hike of 63% from the previous week. The release of Nintendo’s new game Animal Crossing: New Horizons during that week garnered sales that outperformed all of the series’ previous games combined. It is well said that the coronavirus quarantine was a lucrative season for game developers.
- Movie streaming services
COVID 19 lockdowns brought numerous benefits to the entire entertainment industry, including movie streaming platforms of course. The typical escape for many people in the early quarantine days was watching a movie, and if you are not allowed to go to the movies, streaming platforms have got some exclusive blockbusters for you.
Netflix has been one of the most used apps in the quarantine days, with the giant movie streaming platform recording the addition of 15.77 million paid subscribers globally in the first quarter of 2020. Launched a few months before the coronavirus hits the world, Disney+ was also one of the booming movie apps with more than 50 million subscribers over a few months. Video streaming apps have also seen significant growth, topped by TikTok and Youtube.
- Legal services
The legal services market has been among the beneficiaries amid the COVID 19 outbreak, as the number of people seeking out legal advice has turned higher. Long home isolation times resulted in more divorce cases and family issues and lawyers have made the best of that. Additionally, the number of people starting up their online businesses from home rose during the quarantine period and legal consultants were there to help.
On another hand, many organizations have been obligated by law to apply a number of medical precautions due to the virus outbreak and this usually requires the help of a legal consultant. The development and production of many new drugs were also among the fields where professional legal services are needed.
- Pharmaceuticals
Since the world’s biggest concern remains how and when we can eventually have an effective vaccine against COVID 19, pharmaceuticals stood out as one of the booming industries in the age of the pandemic. Drug makers are pumping billions of dollars worth of investments into the research and development activities to produce an approved cure.
Furthermore, the isolation period came with many psychological challenges and resulted in an increasing number of mental disorders, which underlined the need for powerful psychological medication. More importantly, the world should be prepared for any upcoming pandemic diseases and ready to take more urgent and effective reactions; this suggests further growth in the pharmaceutical industry.
- E-Commerce
Right after the novel virus was announced as pandemic, many shopping outlets had to close their doors for over six months, making way for online shopping and e-commerce platforms to thrive. Retail websites achieved unprecedented increases in traffic under COVID 19, generating almost 22 billion visits in June 2020, up from 16.07 billion global visits in January 2020.
It makes sense that the hikes in the average time people spend on the internet came with more online shopping traffic and conversion rates. E-commerce is undoubtedly one of the world’s fastest growing digital industries that flourished on the back of the pandemic lockdowns as well as the rapid technologies advancements.
The concept of globalization
The growth in these eight industries was not confined by physical borders or geographic boundaries. Companies of these sectors are now offering their products and services on an international level, aiming for unstoppable growth. To achieve global-scale success, however, you need to cater your content to a diverse range of audiences with different languages and various cultures. A prerequisite, then, would be partnering with a professional language service provider (LSP) that specializes in your industry and has a track record of successful projects. From e-learning ang game localization, medical and legal translation, all the way to subtitling, language services have played a pivotal role in the acceleration of many businesses amid the COVID 19 lockdowns.
About LatinoBridge…
Over the course of 10 years, LatinoBridge has been one of the most trusted translation companies inside and outside Latin America. We have been providing versatile language solutions in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese to giant brand names all around the world. No matter your industry, we have a huge pool of subject matter experts and specialized linguists who are aware of your specific business needs as well as the subtlest language and culture nuances. As your business grows and expands, Latin America is most likely a potential market for your products and services, and we are ready to bridge your way to this promising market. Contact us today and let your business thrive in new markets!
