5 Industries affected form Coronavirus Pandemic

1. Retailers and E-commerce

This is probably the most viable industry that is feeling the significant impact of coronavirus outbreak. This sector includes everything from large retailers to small and local “mom-and-pop” stores.  COVID-19 has forced many retailers other than grocery stores and pharmacies to shut down temporarily. Like any other industry, retail is a total of many sub-industries – e.g. clothing and fashion, food and beverage, etc.

• Clothing and fashion market

The Clothing market depends on China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam for the supply of fabric and other raw materials. Therefore, the impact of the coronavirus spread will be felt by this sub-industry due to factory shutdowns, non-availability of employees, and shoppers staying away from retail shops and malls.

• Food and beverage

Food and beverage is the most important sector to note, particularly the small businesses that have had to close their doors and layoff employees. If possible, food retailers should go hyper-local market as doorstep delivery is gaining ground for services like food, medicine, and grocery.

E-commerce becomes a channel of choice in moments like these, and it should benefit the fingers. Companies should focus on their online presence and shopping capabilities, and inform customers about the web enablement

2. Travel and tourism

The travel and tourism industry has drastically affected by COVID-19. With coronavirus being pandemic, people are avoiding traveling, which has negatively impacted the travel business and has affected the tourism benefits of the affected countries. It is estimated that the travel and tourism sector will have 15% job losses worldwide and global airlines may lose $113 billion if the coronavirus continues to spread at this pace. Airlines are drastically cutting flights as more people have decided not to fly during the coronavirus outbreak.

3. Technology

As of 2019 the size of the tech industry was $5 trillion. This year’s major technical conferences like Google I/O, Mobile world congress, Electronic entertainment expo got canceled due to COVID-19.  This industry will suffer the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic due to heavy dependence on China as China is the manufacturing center. The decrease in demand and impact on the supply chain as most consumers are now staying in their homes and technology companies have closed their offices and stores, restricting their executives to travel to the affected areas. Remote working is being preferred among COVID-19 and thus operations such as software development & maintenance are minimally affected by the coronavirus.

4. Fintech

The spread of COVID-19 has proven to be the biggest threat to the world economy and financial markets. If we look at the short term impact, we could see people making safe investments in the market. This means there are fewer investments in the stock market, which are negatively impacting on venture capital funding of existing and new fintech firms. The Fintech sector has experienced a decline in transactions at all levels. Since people have self-quarantine themselves to protect against the coronavirus spread, they are spending less than usual, leading to a low transaction rate. Indian Stock Market has experienced a negative impact due to the coronavirus effect. 

5. Entertainment

The entertainment industry is badly affected by COVID-19.

• Disney and Universal Studios have planned to close several theme parks as large gatherings may prompt the spread of coronavirus. 
• Movie theatres are temporarily locked down in parts of India, due to coronavirus outbreak.

However, as more people stay at home, in self-quarantine, and take preventive measures, the use of alternate entertainment services such as games, video-on-demand and over-the-top (OTT) platforms is increasing. COVID-19 is expected to increase the number of subscribers of companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar.

The impact of COVID-19 can be seen across all the industries. The industry needs to be capitalized, hang on its key employees, and manage its existing relationships with customers as difficult situations arise every now and then problems but maintaining healthy relationships will keep the business going long-term. We should make a policy in which we are prepared for the future we do not want. Well, hope for new dawn without the nemesis of COVID-19.