The world was greatly impacted by COVID and its effects were felt through nearly every aspect of society including your professional and personal life. Even for those in more favorable situations, everyone had their life impacted by COVID in some way. However, people endured and did the hard work required to make it through the worst parts of the pandemic. People, companies, and civic institutions all had to be adaptable to face the challenges the last year brought.
An interesting aspect of the post COVID world is how many of these changes have become permanent. Performance marketing leader Eyal Gutentag reflected on the long-term changes in the business world in this article. Indeed, many things may be permanently changed and never go back to the way they were before, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Every large societal change has presented a chance for growth and opportunity. Here are three areas of the business world poised for growth in the marketplace post COVID.
— Eyal Gutentag (@eyalgutentag) July 15, 2020
Three Growth Opportunities in a Post COVID Marketplace
- E-Commerce: the digital marketplace has long been a booming part of modern consumer culture with companies such as Amazon reporting high sale volumes for the last several years. During the COVID epidemic, online sales increasedand companies that didn’t have a large online footprint saw themselves increasing access to goods via their website and apps. This is an area of business where smaller and medium-sized businesses can succeed and enjoy many benefits. Customers have already shown an increasing preference for buying online and the pandemic has seen customers who were more hesitant to this change start to embrace this aspect of the consumer marketplace.
- Contactless Fulfillment: the need for social distancing resulted in customers getting orders dropped off directly at their home with no human engagement or curbside pickup limiting exposure while still getting what they need. Many found this to be a very convenient approach to commerce as it speeds things up and cuts down on wasted time. This can be beneficial to your business as well as it cuts down on overhead and streamlines your overall sales process.
- Niche Markets:an advantage of niche markets is while their customer bases may be smaller they are very loyal. By finding a solid niche market you can meet a very specific need and stand out from your competitors. The COVID pandemic resulting in some unique ideas and one such as the Waffle House selling its waffle mix directly to customers shows how you can create an entirely new income stream for a business by being creative.
Final Thoughts
In business, you have to stay ahead of your competitors and with the increasing globalization of the market, you have to be faster than ever to deal with external factors and changes. Those companies that succeed are both adaptable and innovative. As the world emerges from COVID things are not just going to reset to the way they were before. A company that can realistically see how things have changed and take advantage of that fact is going to better serve its customers and see an increase in profits and sales.
