There is no denying that events since the start of 2020 have changed the way that many industries work for the long term. One of the things that we predominantly heard about during the pandemic was the industries that had been forced to close & the long-term impact this was likely to have on them. This is especially the case for small businesses, where it is widely recognized that many of them will struggle even when they reopen. Chunks of the year where they have been unable to trade will undoubtedly have had an impact on their finances, and of course, there is always a chance that their customers will have gone elsewhere during this time.
Were All Businesses Affected?
A vast majority of businesses were affected by the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020/2021 however they weren’t all affected in the same way. For example, some were affected by having to move all their staff to remote working but could carry on trading as normal whereas others were forced to close down their business for long periods of time. There is also the fact that employees may have needed to self-isolate or take extra time off for childcare while schools were closed. As such, it’s safe to say that a big majority of companies were affected in one way or another.
However, there were also businesses and industries that saw a positive effect in how their business was run during these times. Most noticeably is probably the essential shops that were allowed to stay open – with queues to get into supermarkets and people taking up more DIY projects while they were at home, these industries definitely benefited from people who were spending extra.
Other industries that did well were ones that could adapt the way they traded – for example, being able to increase their online presence and what products/services they were able to offer to customers online.
How Did The Online Ecommerce Sector Boom?
With people forced to stay at home more often, they started to look towards the internet for shopping and entertainment and many industries really stepped up to the mark and delivered. Zoom parties became somewhat of a norm and even small businesses increased their online presence to offer local deliveries to people who wanted it. Advances in technology meant that businesses were able to adapt quickly – for example, pubs that were forced to close could quickly set up an online presence in order to offer local food and drink deliveries.
Online gambling and iGaming in general both proved popular during the pandemic. As people were unable to go and socialize, they started to look for other ways to spend their time and money on being entertained. The online gambling industry stepped up to the market, increased their advertising and made sure they changed their offering to suit this new possible customer base.
Online marketing, bloggers and social media also increased in popularity during this time – there are still people on platforms such as TikTok that became popular during lockdown and are still making a living now. This could be via sponsorship deals, paid advertising and even affiliate marketing, which is something many people embraced during lockdown.
What Industries Embraced Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing works in a way that people promote products and services with their own unique link – and when people click this and make a purchase, the person sharing a link earns a commission. With social media on the increase, people are starting to use affiliate links to earn a reasonable living. One thing that the Coronavirus taught many of us is that working from home or earning a living with more flexible hours is more preferable than working a 9 to 5 in an office which comes with a long commute. With this new thought process towards working, people are starting to look at new ways to earn a living – especially in ways that allow them to earn a wage around the commitments they have for running a home and family.
With the easing of restrictions across many countries and online casinos becoming much more accessible, affiliate links have become a reliable way for people online to make a living. The pandemic proved to be the perfect time for people to step up and do this, as it meant that more people were online looking for entertainment options – and this meant that people could point them in the right direction of something that would tick all the boxes, and give them the chance to win some money along the way! This meant that affiliates could target locations with plenty of recently launched casinos and on-going legislation easing access to online gambling, knowing that this would give them access to a decent slice of market share within the iGaming industry.
What Does This Mean For The Future?
Although internet marketing, social media and even online gambling is likely to change in the future, none of them are going anywhere. Technology and the way people use the internet might change, but this will simply be down to industries adapting to customer demand. Affiliate marketing is proving popular as it makes it possible for anyone with an online presence to promote products that they think their readers will like and want to purchase/use. Although online casinos have been a big part of this, many bloggers use it to promote things such as fashion and beauty products, electrical gadgets and so much more!
What this will look like for the future remains to be seen – no one could have predicted that a pandemic would have closed down industries in 2020 and so it is hard to know exactly what the future will bring. However, one thing for sure is that affiliate links, internet marketing and eCommerce are all industries that are not going to be disappearing anytime soon. In fact, thanks to changes in technology they’re likely to continue to thrive in the very near future, if not long term.
