Top 5 generic products to see new growth in demand

In the COVID-19 pandemic more than half of the world is currently at the lockdown. And the rest has slowed down its economic activities to a greater level. In recent years, there could have been different reasons for economic slowdown in various countries, e.g. subprime crisis, Arab spring, demonetisation in India, but more or less it was contained by the geographical limits of the country directly and to some part of the world indirectly. The COVID-19 pandemic is more severe than any of these because it has engulfed the entire world.

Most of the businesses have slowed down and some have even shut down permanently. Cities like New York and Los Angeles are halting for the first time in the last few decades. People are becoming jobless. Some have exhausted all of their savings in the past couple of months. Situation looks very grim in the coming days. This sure has changed a lot of preferences and priorities of people around the world.

But having said this, here is a list of top 5 products which will definitely see greater demand post COVID-19 crisis:

1. Alcohol based hand rub (sanitiser)

People are becoming cautious about personal hygiene than ever before. Spread of most of the infections happens through touch by hands. Frequent sanitisation of hands without the need of water will see huge demand in coming days. Be sure to use those sanitisers which have alcohol content more than 70% v/v for better results. Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla has come out with a new range of hand rubs in this time.

2. Face masks

Most countries which do not have culture to wear masks while you are out of your home. But they are likely to adapt to this social new norm. Countries like Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and others have adapted this into its social culture. Many people are using it on a daily basis while commuting from home to office. This has interestingly helped mentioned countries to reduce the rate of infection to a great level.

3. Immunity booster

Demand for vitamin tablets, energy bars, health supplements and other ayurvedic products will be in boom. Big brands are going to use it in their favour. They have already started airing commercials on TV in India that ‘better immunity means less chances of getting infected’. Whether their claims are true or not is a different question altogether. But people will buy these because of the fear factor that these advertisements are creating.

4. Surface disinfectants

These are used to disinfect areas which are touched frequently by the people. It is indeed a good practice to disinfect highly touched surface areas viz. Door handles, railings on the metro stations, handles in the metro train or in buses etc. Advertisements of such products are already running and gaining popularity.

5. Disposable napkins

Since hygiene will still be a primary factor of our lives post lockdown, demand for these products will be high. Generally, disposable napkins are preferred because you are saved with the trouble of washing, drying them post use. These are cheaper in the short run, and available everywhere. Another advantage of these is these can be disposed easily in the public bins.

These have earlier not played much role in most of our lives. But we must take our hygiene and our society at large seriously. Together we can make the world a better place post pandemic.