Unanticipated business victories during the pandemic

Here’s a round-up of ideas and observations too short for a normal blog post. Have fun.

Unintended business victories

It’s been fascinating to watch many products flourish during the pandemic, creating unexpected business victories. For example, when the pandemic started, Home Depot stores cut back staff and cleared inventory expecting a severe downturn — but the opposite happened. People turned to home improvement projects during the lock-down and sales increased 30 percent!

I would not want to be in the travel or luggage business right now, but there are many bright spots for marketers, too. Here are some non-obvious products that have had soaring sales during the crisis:

• dog toys and care supplies (dog adoptions and sales have boomed)
• Clearasil (mask acne!)
• guns and ammo (local shooting range: “I don’t know of a store in our area that has any ammo at all right now.”
• inflatable pools, hot tubs, and anything that holds water
• boats and boat repair
• arts and craft supplies
• small, cheap desks
• bread machines and baking supplies
• bidets (afraid of toilet paper…