We have seen the effect that the pandemic has had on American businesses. Alcohol sales in the U.S. have increased drastically since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and remain higher than when the year began.  With limited social gatherings, work from home, less daily commute, and online social interaction, much of the world has struggled with quarantine.  The change in everyday life, let alone the upcoming holiday season, has had negative effects on mental health.

In fact, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) conducted a survey on the impact of the pandemic guidelines on Americans’ mental health.  The study found that 53 percent of adults reported that their mental health has been negatively affected by COVID-19 and the resulting economic recession.  These effects roll over into basic well being like quality of sleep, eating, and increased alcohol consumption.

Effect on Teens

Due to social isolation, loneliness has become a topic of concern throughout the world.  Feeling alone, especially for teenagers, can be very detrimental to mental health.  Adolescence is a very foundational time, considering that the frontal lobe is known to not fully develop until the age of 25.  The frontal lobe determines decision making and higher executive functions.  As a result, the first two decades of life are extremely important for social development.  The KFF poll determined that 67 percent of parents will be concerned about their children’s emotional and social well being.  However, the University of Rochester Medical Center determined that parents can overwhelm their children which actually has the opposite effect on how willing they are to open up to their elders.

Young adults’ mental health is also affected by the pandemic and isolation because they are already highly susceptible to anxiety and depression.  In 2018, 12 percent of polled 12-17 year olds reported that they already have anxiety and/or depression.  Growing up, I remember these years being when my social life began to take off.  The increased interest in dating, socializing, and extra curricular activities built the foundation for basic social skills that I will have for the rest of my life. When teenagers are taken away from friends, family, and other social support figures, the mental health and social anxiety that may already exist, becomes much worse.

Grown-ups

Older adults have evidentially seen negative impacts on their mental health due to COVID-19.  The causes slightly differ from young adults, however, because many are worried about job instability.  Older adults have lived through multiple recessions and know how insecure the job market can be.  With many layoffs throughout American industries, many feared for their career.

On the other hand, there are many adults that work in health care and nursing, where they are literally risking their lives every day.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has determined that older adults see worse symptoms of coronavirus that are worsened by underlying conditions, even with something as common as asthma.

As the added stresses of the pandemic flipped many people’s worlds upside-down, we saw that adults began to turn to alcohol.  In April 2020, the World Health Organization saw that alcohol sales had risen by 54 percent the previous month, so they put out a warning message to the public about the dangers of consumption during a pandemic.  On average, alcohol was consumed one more day per month for 3 out of 4 adults according to a study conducted by the RAND Corporation American Life Panel (ALP).

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every American industry has been impacted.  With more people working from home, we have seen a change in consumer habits.  Are we buying more at the grocery stores because we’re home more, or are we eating out more now that there are more delivery options? Are we spending more on entertainment because we’re in our homes more or are we spending less because we’re not going to the movie theaters? These are the types of questions that spark my interest during a pandemic, so let’s dive in.

According to an article by J.P. Morgan Research, many consumers were buying in bulk in the beginning of the pandemic.  Take new parents for example.  Adults with young children were stocking up on baby food in fear that their loved one wouldn’t have proper nutrition.  With industry and consumer adjustment to the pandemic, these habits known as “panic buying” have fortunately slowed down.

So which products did we buy more of and which were we scrapping?

Must-Haves

Wash your hands

To no one’s surprise, home cleaners and soap were very limited at the store.  Shelves were completely clear, or cleaning supplies was limited to one per customer. Dettol and Lysol saw a 100% increase in sales in the U.S. from January-March 2020.  Other cleaner companies like Henkel saw hand soap sales exceed 74% in the first quarter of 2020.

Time to cover those roots

Due to the closing of hair salons, hair color sales in the U.S. increased as well.  When salons officially closed down in most states, those who rely on hair treatments turned to their local CVS.  L’Oreal and Henkel saw their sales climb to 30% in the second quarter of 2020.

Morning cup of Joe

As work from home quickly became the new normal, Americans had to break out the ole Keurig or french press.  U.S. coffee products like Starbucks-at-home saw their sales climb to about a third in 2020.  In addition, Nescafé and Coffee-Mate’s U.S. sales grew at “double-digit” rates in the first 6 months of this year.

Ditched During Lockdown

Au Naturel

With more working from home, bars and restaurants closed, and no social gatherings, cosmetics took a huge hit during the pandemic.  Though I previously mentioned L’Oreal’s increase in hair color sales, their beauty market “had fallen 13-14% in the first half of the year”.  The closing of salons also pushed luxury and professional beauty sales to fall around 25%.

Quiet on the Set

Spending from the U.S. media and entertainment industries have decreased drastically.  This article from eMarketer predicts that digital ad spending from the media will fall by 9.3% and entertainment’s will fall by 6.9% by the end of 2020.  Instead, this surplus should go directly towards gaming and video streaming.  Additionally, it is estimated that the media and entertainment industries will designate most digital spending on mobile ads, 59.1% and 78.5% respectively.

To put the U.S. entertainment spending in perspective, the industry will spend 7.03 billion dollars on advertising in 2020, which is 6.9% less from last year.

Fortunately, most states are seeing an improvements in COVID-19 cases and deaths.  However, the lasting impacts from the pandemic on U.S. businesses will continue to be detrimental to the economy.  Please continue to wash your hands and wear your mask.