"Necessity is the mother of all creation."
Needless to say, the year 2020 gave us plenty of necessities due to which innovative products and services started.
The necessity of sanitation, convenience, protecting our loved ones, killing boredom, being productive, and helping society gave rise to many innovations.
Hence here are some of the amazing things that 2020 gave us despite the pandemic.
Easy access to healthcare products
2020 led us to appreciate the digitalization of healthcare facilities. Many apps and websites have come up that connect people with physicians and book online appointments for them.
You can even order medicines from here and get them home delivered. Hence it is super convenient. Plus, you can also avail online discounts and save your money.
The top healthcare apps are ClotMD, Doximity, ACT.md, Visual DX, and Medici. These apps have a lot of doctors and physicians as their members.
Doorstep Delivery Services
The eCommerce giants and other business websites such as Amazon and Flipkart do doorstep delivery of the items you order. But now, even retail shops provide doorstep delivery services. Due to the lockdown and the fear of leaving the house, small business owners and shopkeepers got innovative and provided home delivery services to sell their products.
Various apps have started package delivery services such as Uber, Swiggy, Rapido, etc. Even though people were not using these apps for traveling, they used them for transporting items. This way, these companies also made revenue.
Sanitation
To sanitize and clean small devices such as phones, keys, watches, jewelry, small sanitizer machines were made. These sold like hotcakes. Many companies have come up with UV Sanitizers that can kill various viruses and harmful germs.
Other sanitization machines like dispensers, fog machines, spray guns, and machines got very popular and became a necessity.
For the safety of people working in the manufacturing assembly line work, ultraviolet sanitizations tunnels were invented by a company names Digi-Key. This 4.5-meter-long tunnel is built into the conveyor belt curve to sanitize production, thus safeguarding employees from potential virus contact.
Mask making
Selling masks became the most profitable business in 2020. Many people started making homemade masks for themselves and started a small business out of it. Many homemakers who knew how to stitch started selling masks. People even made crochet ear savers to attach their masks to them and protect their ears.
Fashion designers started selling matching masks along with their outfits.
Many websites came up that sold fancy printed masks, embroidered masks, etc. Several designs, elastics, and sizes came up too.
A company named Virustatic Shield made masks with a special coating and base material, making it an antiviral, multi-functional protective snood.
Online tutoring services
Tuition teachers usually used to go to their student's houses or called them at tuition centers, but they started tutoring students online via video conferencing due to the pandemic. Schools, colleges, and other organizations began using video conferencing to communicate, leading to the popularization of video conferencing apps.
People started subscribing to online art classes, cooking workshops, stitching workshops. Artists, bakers, and many other people conducted online workshops to earn money and continue working during these testing times.
The rise of Zoom, Google meet, Webex.
These video conferencing apps earned a lot of money as everyone used them all the time. People who invested in these companies also made money.
DIY Baking kits
As business got slow in 2020, home bakers got innovative and started making DIY kits. Bakers made DIY cookie boxes, cupcake boxes, cake boxes. These boxes contained all the ingredients and decoration items, and people could buy these and create tasty treats at their homes.
Moreover, people started to buy more from home bakers than commercial bakeries as it was a much safer option. So, many people began their home bakeries and cooking businesses. Hence, cloud kitchen and catering services have grown immensely during this period.
Growth in pet adoption rates
During the lockdown, many families have adopted pets. This led to the rise in pet-related businesses from essential food products, toys, grooming to TV shows for dogs.
Many companies came up with innovative dog collars, clothes, sweaters.
Online fitness services
Gyms and fitness services closed down due to the lockdown; hence everything got digital. Many apps came up and gave free services during the lockdown. Here videos of the workout were shown in real-time so that you can see and exercise with them.
OYO Fitness developed a completely portable gym to sculpt muscles and practice all sorts of sports at the comfort of one's home. The SpiraFlex technology used in the product also allows customers to use different weights while exercising.
Work from home
Even after the lockdown, many companies realized that work from home was a better option. It was a much efficient and cheaper option. Hence, many companies, especially IT companies, became remote companies operating from home.
Mobile hotels that travel with you
During the pandemic, as we couldn't travel outside, van-renting services were innovated. These vans had all the amenities of a hotel room; hence you can travel safely.
These are some of the innovations of 2020 that changed the way people live and entrepreneurs do their business.