What new businesses will emerge from the current economic crisis

[RedKettle]

This is a spin off from the Covid thread.

It is well documented that large numbers of businesses are started in recession. Those from 2008 include WhatsApp, Groupon and Airbnb. Obviously many will fail and most just tick along providing an income for the founder and perhaps employing a few people.  However some will be the major businesses we all know and take for granted in say 10 years.

What businesses do you think will be new and exciting over the next few years?

The whole area of autonomous vehicles is interesting and receiving massive investment. Not convinced that we will see self driving cars in the near future but there could be some interesting spin offs. The delivery bots in I think Milton Keynes look exciting. (May have the wrong city.)

Clearly the whole being at home thing has been massive so perhaps something related to that, perhaps some form of home entertainment.

Working from home will stay as a major thing so there could be businesses springing up to service that, for example co working spaces so that people can get away from home and work at a desk perhaps 10 minutes away.  Perhaps a team building business as firms find their employees no longer work together and need events to get to know each other!

Any other ideas for the new business giants starting around now?

[Billy no mates]

Delivering shit, has exploded.

Yes we al know the big players, but literally between the online retails giants and supermarkets all the way down to Uber eats and Deliveroo, once or twice an hour all day long for as early as 6, till after 10pm there’s a delivery of some sort to my immediate neighbours around my house.

[Corus Boy]

Working fom home, probably big savings for companies.

Home schooling trainers, to boost children's learning.

Divorce lawyers.

All forms or delivery, food raw, food takeaways, shopping, all types.

Home visiting clothes designers.

Home visiting Tech repairers.

Demolition contractors, flattening failed shopping malls.

Tea and cake shops to battle with coffee shops.

[Hornycustodian]

Most probable business or rather increase in options is for same day food deliveries. Theres already been a large increase in options. Also pc and timekeeping software. Retail also will drastically change especially with regards to clothes.

[RedKettle]

Demolition contractors, flattening failed shopping malls.

That was a point I should have included in my original post.  There will be a massive reshaping off the high street and as you say shopping malls.  The sorts of business that can take over retail space and attract customers will do well.  Probably some new concepts there that we are just not aware of at the moment - cannot all be Starbucks and Costa!! 

[Scotpunter]

That was a point I should have included in my original post.  There will be a massive reshaping off the high street and as you say shopping malls.  The sorts of business that can take over retail space and attract customers will do well.  Probably some new concepts there that we are just not aware of at the moment - cannot all be Starbucks and Costa!!

Have you any suggestions of what types of businesses these could be? The coffee shops will need footfall to remain where they are. No shoppers=no footfall.

[Gordon Bennett]

Gardening and horticulture. I suspect people stuck at home will develop an interest in sorting out garden, growing fruit, flowers veg and suchlike. Even those in flats will realise looking after an orchid is quite fun and rewarding and somewhat easier than having a live animal.

[Lou2019]

Have you any suggestions of what types of businesses these could be? The coffee shops will need footfall to remain where they are. No shoppers=no footfall.

In my town we have a number of hairdressers, turkish barbers, nail bars etc = footfall

[Lou2019]

Gardening and horticulture. I suspect people stuck at home will develop an interest in sorting out garden, growing fruit, flowers veg and suchlike. Even those in flats will realise looking after an orchid is quite fun and rewarding and somewhat easier than having a live animal.

This is very true many of my friends and family have suddenly developed green fingers

[NelsonH]

Growth in the number of dogs.  Hence grooming parlours, pet-shops, trainers etc

[willie loman]

Growth in the number of dogs.  Hence grooming parlours, pet-shops, trainers etc

good observation, clothes for dogs has already taken off big time.

[Chorley]

Any company that provides gym equipment. Particularly the bigger stuff like squat racks/power cages/big KG weight plates; e.g., everything you used have to go to a gym to access but can now have in your garage/spare room/basement etc.

[Adoniron]

Have you any suggestions of what types of businesses these could be? The coffee shops will need footfall to remain where they are. No shoppers=no footfall.

Then they will need to move location to where the customers are, the suburbs and market towns

[Adoniron]

Growth in the number of dogs.  Hence grooming parlours, pet-shops, trainers etc

New grooming parlour just opened near me. Already booked up for weeks ahead.

[willie loman]

Any company that provides gym equipment. Particularly the bigger stuff like squat racks/power cages/big KG weight plates; e.g., everything you used have to go to a gym to access but can now have in your garage/spare room/basement etc.

if you go online, plenty of gym stuff for nothing, bought by people who never used it, people go to the gym for social reasons, gyms etc will continue to prosper going forward.

[Thephoenix]

 Manufacture, installation and maintenance of electrical vehicle charging points.

[smiths]

I predict a development with a shop/online selling recycled rubbish to mugs who think its trendy and green. Reggie Perrin come from fiction to reality.

More companies selling bottled air guaranteed to be from certified areas like you get with bottled water. Highland air for example. I saw a clip some time ago on Googlebox i think it was about an existing small family business who already sell air in sealed jars. They used big nets to grab the air from the sky and put it in the jars.

The opening up of the domestic water market is going to occur resulting in big changes for better or worse for consumers.

There will be a development with piss and shit waste material of humans and animals to harness it as a power source for energy purposes in a big big way. What goes in must come out at some stage so its an ongoing source that can be relied on.

[threechilliman]

Manufacture, installation and maintenance of electrical vehicle charging points.

This. In the not too distant future every house and car park will need a charging point. I suspect a lot more people would make the change from petrol to electric right now if charging them wasn't an issue.

[Markus]

Ditto on the electrical charging points.  I imagine the amount of people living in flats or houses with no front driveways who would love to have an electrical car but don’t have the infrastructure for charging points.

I predict a big move towards environmentally friendly packaging.  I’ve looked in to this myself but the cost of cheap styrofoam means that people are hesitant to move away especially in light of the cost difference.  The amount of plastic one household generates is mind boggling and it’s not just a UK problem:

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[standardpostage]

Covid sniffer dogs, at airports, sport venues, schools, colleges, music venues, etc, etc.

Daft idea, I know, but you never know !

[Doc Holliday]

Covid sniffer dogs, at airports, sport venues, schools, colleges, music venues, etc, etc.

Daft idea, I know, but you never know !

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[lostandfound]

Expansion in areas in which the UK is strong such as Finance, Software & AI, Science-led business such as biotech and new materials and battery chemistry (vaccines), Engineering, renewables / hydrogen economy. UK is a world leader in offshore renewables thanks to our long coastline, windy weather, and North Sea expertise thanks to Oil.

And areas which are synergies between those, such as fintech. Many fintech startups since the 2008 crash.

The UK is a world leader in AI. One such company which appeared after the 2008 recession and is well known is DeepMind. Demis Hassabis who founded DeepMind in 2010, said in interview with Hannah Fry in 2019 that a milestone in the development of AI will be when an AI makes a scientific discovery worthy of a Nobel prize.

Interestingly, this year DeepMind's AlphaFold project appears to have solved the problem of predicting the 3D structure of a protein from it's amino acid sequence. External Link/Members Only

In 1962 the Nobel prize for Chemistry was awarded for elucidating the 3D structure of just one protein - Haemaglobin.

[RedKettle]

Have you any suggestions of what types of businesses these could be? The coffee shops will need footfall to remain where they are. No shoppers=no footfall.

If you believe people will work more from home then around the areas they live could be reemergence of local shops, perhaps co working facilities that I mentioned above plus some new business ideas to serve that market. City centre would be more of a challenge as would need to the sort of business that pulls people to them, probably more leisure, fitness focused. However I am sure there will also be a few utterly new concepts, which I do not have the imagination to predict.

[Scotpunter]

Lots of good ideas guys & girls. 

[Squire Haggard]

A huge temporary boost for motorhomes. 

''Record numbers of Britons are buying motorhomes for staycations, leading to a shortage of vehicles.

As the pandemic threatens overseas holidays, motorhome dealers are facing huge demand.

Alistair Norman, of Revolution Campervans in Northamptonshire, dealt with 20 enquiries a week before the pandemic – now it's 500 a day.''

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[sir wanksalot]

You can't go far wrong by looking at what happens in America to gauge what is coming this way.

Dark kitchens seems to be a trend where restaurant quality food is delivered to homes often with the restaurant having no physical address

[Squire Haggard]

You can't go far wrong by looking at what happens in America to gauge what is coming this way.

Dark kitchens seems to be a trend where restaurant quality food is delivered to homes often with the restaurant having no physical address

Thats the  first I've heard of them. I would like to know where any takeaway that I get is from though, so if I drop dead from poisoning, I know who to blame. 

They are already here, according to this article.

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[RedKettle]

A huge temporary boost for motorhomes. 

''Record numbers of Britons are buying motorhomes for staycations, leading to a shortage of vehicles.

As the pandemic threatens overseas holidays, motorhome dealers are facing huge demand.

Alistair Norman, of Revolution Campervans in Northamptonshire, dealt with 20 enquiries a week before the pandemic – now it's 500 a day.''

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selling 2nd hand motor homes will be big business over the next year as many of those people decide they do not really like the lifestyle!

[willie loman]

selling 2nd hand motor homes will be big business over the next year as many of those people decide they do not really like the lifestyle!

thats possible, but one thing is sure, that the infrastructure for motor homes and camping, and tourism in general is still way behind in britain compared to europe, we will see a tourism levy to pay for this.

[Thephoenix]

Maybe the cultivation, distribution and sales of CBD (Cannabidiol)

[RedKettle]

thats possible, but one thing is sure, that the infrastructure for motor homes and camping, and tourism in general is still way behind in britain compared to europe, we will see a tourism levy to pay for this.

why a tourism levy?  If there is more demand because of staycations then the private sector will invest in commercial sites.

I would agree that the government (probably local) could do more on general facilities in holiday areas - toilets, car parking etc.

[myothernameis]

This is a spin off from the Covid thread.

Is this another covid thread, which has been made clearly by the mods, should not be made

[willie loman]

why a tourism levy?  If there is more demand because of staycations then the private sector will invest in commercial sites.

I would agree that the government (probably local) could do more on general facilities in holiday areas - toilets, car parking etc.

you have answered your own question, private sector will construct camp sites etc, but the infrastructure is really up to local councils, try going for a pee in edinburgh or the isle of skye, tourism levy is the way forward. A lot of money generated by tourism, doestnt actually benefit the locals in any sense , it goes straight to big hotel chains, and into tax shelters, thats why i am a fan of airbnb

[RedKettle]

Is this another covid thread, which has been made clearly by the mods, should not be made

No I spun it out from Covid thread because it was not about Covid but I thought it interesting. The thread is about what businesses might arise from the economic troubles. It would be the same thread whatever caused the recession.  Perhaps you might actually read and understand the thread before trying to get it banned.

[RedKettle]

you have answered your own question, private sector will construct camp sites etc, but the infrastructure is really up to local councils, try going for a pee in edinburgh or the isle of skye, tourism levy is the way forward. A lot of money generated by tourism, doestnt actually benefit the locals in any sense , it goes straight to big hotel chains, and into tax shelters, thats why i am a fan of airbnb

Right I think we agree on needing that sort of infrastructure. Not sure why levy rather than general taxation, but yes we should invest in tourism.

[einzwei23]

May not necessarily apply in the UK, but i have a few friends from a certain Asian country where everyone seemed to have set up a Facebook based business/shop ranging from skin care to homecooked meals and the lot.

[Scotpunter]

selling 2nd hand motor homes will be big business over the next year as many of those people decide they do not really like the lifestyle!

I predict it will take circa 5 years, but the arse will drop out the motorhome market and there value will drop significantly. A large proportion currently sold are on finance. Once that finance is paid off a lot of owners will offload.

[willie loman]

Right I think we agree on needing that sort of infrastructure. Not sure why levy rather than general taxation, but yes we should invest in tourism.

a tourist levy is paid for by the tourist

[Scotpunter]

you have answered your own question, private sector will construct camp sites etc, but the infrastructure is really up to local councils, try going for a pee in edinburgh or the isle of skye, tourism levy is the way forward. A lot of money generated by tourism, doestnt actually benefit the locals in any sense , it goes straight to big hotel chains, and into tax shelters, thats why i am a fan of airbnb

I agree Councils should take this as an opportunity to bring tourists into towns. I'd set up overnight motorhome camping in car parks, with a toilet block and waste & fresh water facilities for a small charge eg £5 a night. Chances are most will go out for meals or local shops.

[DrGFreeman]

I agree Councils should take this as an opportunity to bring tourists into towns. I'd set up overnight motorhome camping in car parks, with a toilet block and waste & fresh water facilities for a small charge eg £5 a night. Chances are most will go out for meals or local shops.

I suspect the highlands are bracing themselves for another invasion or vans/motorhomes parked inappropriately and leaving human waste by the roadside
maybe the councils will be better prepared to deal with them this time round
complaint last time was they spent no money locally, so there was no benefit to the locals

[Scotpunter]

I suspect the highlands are bracing themselves for another invasion or vans/motorhomes parked inappropriately and leaving human waste by the roadside
maybe the councils will be better prepared to deal with them this time round
complaint last time was they spent no money locally, so there was no benefit to the locals

As a Scot right at the start of the first lockdown I was embarassed to see the anti visitor rhetoric from those in the Highlands. I was up that way with business several times and there were signs all over saying we don't want visitors. I'd doubt very much that people go away on holiday for a week in a van and spend no money. Most will have meals and drinks out on several occasions.

Shitting at the side of the road is grim, but there really should be more toilet provision right around the Country.

[DrGFreeman]

What businesses do you think will be new and exciting over the next few years?

it wont be bricks/mortar retailing
what will become of all the empty shops, esp the big dept stores. There only so many charity shops to fill them
our high streets will need new life from somewhere or it becomes a vicious circle - if theres no decent shops, why bother going at all, then all the shops which relay on passing trade will fail too

I expect renewable energy to continue to be a focus, esp. as form of economic stimulus spending

I thought the defence review was interesting - with the focus on AI, cyber warfare and space
if these technologies are critical, maybe the UK actually support them and not sell off any promising new companies
all our tech crown jewels are foreign owned (eg ARM or deepmind). we gave up on a sovereign space programme decades ago.
maybe boris will come up with a UK industrial strategy that supports these gaols - we'll see

[DrGFreeman]

I'd doubt very much that people go away on holiday for a week in a van and spend no money. Most will have meals and drinks out on several occasions.
Shitting at the side of the road is grim, but there really should be more toilet provision right around the Country. 

I think the growth has been in converting ex-commercial vans into a sort of motor home, 'van-ing'
I have mates with them
the whole point is to be independent and stay wherever - not to eat out

none of them have toilets
campsite toilets were closed last time restrictions opened up as apparently they couldnt be cleaned frequently enough
its a problem I hope the councils have thought about

[willie loman]

I think the growth has been in converting ex-commercial vans into a sort of motor home, 'van-ing'
I have mates with them
the whole point is to be independent and stay wherever - not to eat out

none of them have toilets
campsite toilets were closed last time restrictions opened up as apparently they couldnt be cleaned frequently enough
its a problem I hope the councils have thought about

the motor home market is diverse, some are people with very little disposable cash, others are frankly loaded, they are here to stay, in Scotland anyway, time for councils to get their act together, i frankly cant be arsed with the idea that motorhomes visitors do nothing for the economy.

[Scotpunter]

I think the growth has been in converting ex-commercial vans into a sort of motor home, 'van-ing'
I have mates with them
the whole point is to be independent and stay wherever - not to eat out

none of them have toilets
campsite toilets were closed last time restrictions opened up as apparently they couldnt be cleaned frequently enough
its a problem I hope the councils have thought about

I'm one of them with a conversion that allows me to be self sufficient. If I'm away on holiday I still want to go out to eat and have a few beers. Most of us do the same. Just the same as going to a self catering apartment, you still eat out.

the motor home market is diverse, some are people with very little disposable cash, others are frankly loaded, they are here to stay, in Scotland anyway, time for councils to get their act together, i frankly cant be arsed with the idea that motorhomes visitors do nothing for the economy.

The value in some of these motorhomes is unreal. For a new one you will struggle to find anything much under £50k. IMO they definately add to the economy and should be encouraged.

[RedKettle]

I think the growth has been in converting ex-commercial vans into a sort of motor home, 'van-ing'
I have mates with them
the whole point is to be independent and stay wherever - not to eat out

none of them have toilets
campsite toilets were closed last time restrictions opened up as apparently they couldnt be cleaned frequently enough
its a problem I hope the councils have thought about

new ones have been selling like hot cakes - far more than conversions.  Most of them are better equipped than many people's home.

[willie loman]

new ones have been selling like hot cakes - far more than conversions.  Most of them are better equipped than many people's home.

the fact that they are used in advertising for financial products pensions etc, is a clue. though its also true that many buy , use it a couple of times, and realise its not for them.