“This where the investment case fits in for a health and wellness type strategy, not only for companies we’ve seen, the food and beverages industry, which of course is extremely important, but also companies that sell fitness equipment. Some reports have shown that the fitness equipment sold has increased four or five times.
“Health and wellness is a very broad theme but it really touches on that a new aspect of taking a proactive approach with our health and wellness.”
2. E-commerce
Recent sales numbers illustrate how e-commerce is made for the stay-at-home economy. For May and June, consumers spent more than $53 billion online, totaling 22% of all U.S. retail sales for that period. Notably, U.S., e-commerce home improvement sales increased 149% YoY, leading footwear (64%) and apparel (41%). Looking abroad, U.K., online grocery sales increased 76% YoY, demonstrating how COVID-19 stoked penetration in historically weak areas.The e-commerce boom has some retailers like Zara closing physical stores. In tech, giants Google and Amazon are responding to recent sales trends with digital advertisement enhancements, services support, and expanded digital payment services.
What does it mean for investors?
Palandrani said: “Before COVID-19 we used to think about a low-hanging fruit categories for e commerce like electronics and clothing. Electronic has close to 50% online penetration clothing has about 25% online penetration – very high categories relative to the 11% online penetration that we see in the United States.
