Industries/Companies Benefiting From the Coronavirus Outbreak

The five insights on industries or companies who are currently benefiting from the coronavirus include Kroger, a chain store giant in the U.S. which employed 2,000 people during the prior week to meet up with increased demands, FedEx which increased revenue by $17.5 billion, and grocery delivery apps such as Instacart, experienced a 218% increase in downloads. Two other companies that have benefited are Emu Export beer & Corona beer experienced 5% to 50% increase, while gun and ammunition sales soared by over 179% in North Carolina.

Kroger

•  Grocery stores across the U.S. have been met with challenges in struggling to keep shelves filled during the coronavirus outbreak, as consumers are stocking up on food and items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
• According to Rodney McMullen, C.E. O. of Kroger, the retail giant has recently hired more than 2,000 people during the previous week to keep up with the heightened demand due to the outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19).
• The company has chain stores all over the U.S. and currently has another 10,000 opening positions waiting to be filled by would-be-employees across warehouses, plants, and stores nationwide.

FedEx

• Courier shipper FedEx, reported revenue that exceeded Wall Street estimates as the company shares surged on Tuesday, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The company’s revenue increased to $17.5 billion from $17 billion the previous year.
• FedEx shares rallied 8% higher and increased by +4.94% share, following a 4.9% rise in the regular session to close at $94.96. 

Grocery Delivery Apps

• According to data from app store intelligence firm, Apptopia, grocery delivery apps have begun seeing record numbers of daily downloads even as Covid-19 spreads across the U.S.
• A comparison of daily downloads from February to Sunday, 15th of March, has seen Shipt, Wallmart Grocery, and Instacart experience a significant increase in daily downloads by 124%, 160%, and 218% respectively.
• On a typical day, Shipt would ordinarily experience a download of 10,000 to 20,000+ downloads daily. While its Sunday downloads were lower due to a perceived move by Target to integrate Shipt’s grocery delivery service, the app still took the third overall position.
•  Instacart, on the other hand, had well over 38,500 and while Wallmart Grocery saw an increase of downloads by roughly 54,000.

Emu Export Increase

• Liquor Barons’ general manager, Chris O’Brien, has stated that sales amid the coronavirus pandemic have increased by 5% in about 70 stores, in Western Australia.
• According to Chris, the most interesting part is that the product has been up 50% during the entire period of the Covid-19 crisis.
• Chris believes that a large number of WA residents are preparing themselves for a potential lockdown, hence the increase in sales of Emu Export beer.
• Also, Corona’s producer Constellation Brands, stated that its U.S. sales were are up in the early part of the year. This may signify an increase in beer sales as people stay at home to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Gun Sales Soar

•  Americans are turning to firearms as a form of self-protection as guns and ammunition sales soar across the U.S., due to fears of possible social unrest owing to the Covid-19 crisis.
•  Long queues have been seen on the west coast as customers line up outside gun stores to stock up deadly weapons. The Martin B. Retting gun shop in Culver City, California, had lines that stretch around the block throughout the weekend.
• According to LA Times, one gun customer stated that despite what politicians and anti-gun people are saying about gun possession over time, and how people don’t need them, people are scared and should make that decision on their own.
• Ammo.com, a major online dealer of ammunition, has put out figures for sales from 23rd February to 4th March, which indicates a surge in gun sales. Sales increased by 68% in the 11 days.
•  North Carolina and Georgia experienced the most gun sale leap by about 179% and 169% respectively.

Research Strategy

To determine some industries or companies that are benefiting from the Coronavirus outbreak, we examined various and most recent reports, news and media releases, and industry reports establishing the highlighted findings. We observed that though there were a lot of shutdowns that have resulted in panic buying, stocking up for the foreseeable future has made companies increase in their sales, compared to others that require gatherings to assemble and produce. Companies such as Cisco’s Webex and Zoom have experienced massive user increases due to the stay-home order.