The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t a great period to be a small business owner without an internet presence. With all the confusion and diminished foot traffic belonging to a physical space company, this was never more dangerous. So, what are the best retail industries? Well, at Advisight, we settled on this list of industries by examining the strength of the industry in the face of overall decreased foot traffic.

The Best Retail Industries
Power And Utility Retailers
We all use it and we take it for granted. These retailers are easily the champions of the 2020 market place. The Power and Utility Retailers have their product in all of our households whether we like it or not. The electric and utility company generates and distributes power, water or gas for sale generally in a regulated market. The cumulative value of this industry is worth billions of dollars. But to this day the exact value is still unknown.
Liquor Retailers
The Beer, Wine and Liquor Stores market comprises of convenience stores that are expressly allowed to sell alcoholic drinks for off-premises use. As a result , industry revenues are projected to increase by 2.5 per cent annually to an approximate $62.5 billion over the five years to 2020, with 2.2 per cent growth by 2020 alone. But this is no surprise to as to why this industry is so resilient.
Funeral Services
Its a bit of a dark topic, but considering that death rates have been the same this industry has been stable. While considering that funerals have grown more expensive and lavish it is safe to say that this retailer isn’t going out of business anytime soon. Funerals have food, flowers, music and in some cases decor. Its practically a wedding. This industry is so stable that it has only seen a 0.7% growth in the past five years. Even with lessened foot traffic funeral homes are still able to keep their doors open.

Grocery Retailers
Just like funeral homes, grocery stores have always been a staple. One of the largest grocery retailers, Costco, in USA reported a 13% increase in revenue since the pandemic. With an industry average of 7% to an already 682 billion industry. This is easily one of the best retail industries, because due to the COVID-19 restrictions, both foot traffic and revenue drastically increased.
Fitness Equipment Retailers
Its truly an unlikely champion in light of recent gym shutdowns and permanent closures. It seems like more people are taking their fitness into their own hands.
The demand for fitness equipment in North America was estimated at US$ 5.24 billion in 2018. In 2018, US customers invested some US$ 3.86 billion on it for home use. It amounted to more than US$ 3.76 billion in net revenue in the previous year. The market value of fitness equipment was projected at $11.5 billion in 2019 and is predicted to hit $15.2 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 3.5 per cent from 2020 to 2027.
The lockdown due to COVID-19 has redefined the business all around the globe. Only staple businesses will be outliving others. The survivors in retail space due to people staying back home were devoid of footfall and hence only a few can be counted there. All the survivors in retail space catered to the immediate need of families staying indoors – be it utility companies or grocery stores who were able to deliver inspite of no footfall to their stores. Funeral services was a dark thing due to increased number of deaths due to this pandemic. Liquor stores blossomed but delivery was challenging.
Overall a very good coverage and discussions on the survivors in retail space due to COVID-19 lockdown measures almost throughout the globe.
Well, this is good, to be able to learn about some of the best online retailers. Your point about small business owners who do not have an online presence is really true because it is very sad when one cannot make money because of the pandemic. I have a friend who just moved her whole business to the online space and I’m sure she’d be looking to get some really good retailers too. I should share this with her though.