Megahit Digital Businesses in COVID-19 & After (Part-2)

In the first part of the blog, we talked about some of the top digital businesses in COVID-19 that have embraced digitalization, and found a means to survive and succeed despite the blow of lockdown.

But, my dear entrepreneur friend, the splashes of digitalization have even reached the sectors, which had been behind the lights. Say for instance, medical research. The industry has been there for quite a long time now. However, with the touch of digitalization and its core functioning, it is successfully breaking its previous records in terms of revenue, subscribers, traffic, and value.

In this blog, we have got you covered with some more digital businesses in COVID-19 along with the sectors that have been influenced significantly during the lockdown and for the better.

Presenting the top digital businesses in COVID-19.

Well, we have all seen the spikes in the gym membership during the New Years. However, lockdown did impact the gym and personal health training businesses that are running offline. Since the probability of passing on infection is high in gyms and other fitness centres, these businesses would have to look elsewhere for survival.

And by elsewhere, we mean the digital space.

Numerous fitness coaches have already taken to the online channels and are continuously being able to widen their subscribers’ base. However, it is during the outbreak of COVID-19 that the fitness industry worth USD 100 Bn began dramatically scrambling from offline to online mode. We have seen a surge in fitness app development projects and digital businesses in COVID-19 since the beginning of the crisis.

And, this is not it. Taking the fitness industry online does not only mean resorting to YouTube or social media platforms to conduct live workout sessions. Fitness coaches have considered developing a dedicated fitness coach booking app or a website to run successful digital businesses in COVID-19 and even after its effect fades out.

As individuals are striving to maintain their fitness regime during the COVID-19 crisis, Nike is reaching out to more potential customers using its fitness app. The app consists of a library of over 185 workouts ranging from the duration of 15-minutes to 60-minutes.

During the crisis, when all the physical fitness centres have been closed for an indefinite period of time, Nike has been the inspiration for fitness workout app development to many. It dropped its subscription plans to accommodate new users for its premium Nike Training Club app. The app now offers yoga classes, targeted training programs, and full-equipment workout sessions for free to all users.

• Users can access the Nike Training Club for free for the time being, by signing up with their email id, and entering their shopping preferences and date of birth.
• The app consists of various categories of workouts—Yoga, Cardio and HIT, Strength Training, Mobility, Core, etc. Users can simply select a category and explore a range of workout videos.
• In order to keep the users motivated, the app consists of a ‘Celebrate your Achievements’ feature that offers badges to users, once they reach their workout milestones.
• Besides workout enthusiasts, the app offers an opportunity to fitness trainers to build their fitness business by getting professional training from experts. Fitness trainers have to sign up for NTC Pro to be able to connect with the professionals.
• On top of it, the app consists of ‘Featured Workout Collections’ that help users to view sets of recommended workouts and guidance from the professionals.

Since coronavirus is found to be affecting people with low immunity the most, individuals are adding a fitness regime in their schedule. Most of these are beginners, and that’s when the on-demand fitness apps are found to be thriving.

Beachbody on Demand is an online fitness platform that helps users meet their ideal body goals. During the time of COVID-19 crisis, the company has recorded an increment in its subscriber base by 200%.

• Beachbody on Demand is an online workout program, available on Android and iOS systems.
• Users can sign up for the program and can access over 1100 workout sessions along with the nutrition plans.
• The app offers various categories for users to pick from—Yoga, cardio, strength training, dance, etc.
• Users can use the workout calendars and progress trackers to stay motivated and accomplish their body goals. The app consists of a section with the most popular workouts for the users, with detailed information about the plans.
• Users can even opt for the workout sessions led by experts in the fitness industry. There is a category of experts for users to choose from and begin their fitness journey. The app allows users to add their food preferences. The app processes customizable meal plans with hundreds of recipes and cooking videos.
• The app assigns a free coach to every subscriber, who guides users regarding a plan or a meal.

Lockdown has brought about a significant change in the way knowledge is being disseminated to students. Schools, colleges, universities, coaching classes, and similar educational institutions are witnessing empty benches. In some parts of the world, exams of students have been postponed.
These are the times, when either the education sector would have fallen victim to the crisis or could have emerged more strongly out of it. And it did the latter.
Today, professors are looking at Google Meet and other group video calling apps to conduct an online class. However, this can be a temporary solution. There are no features to underpin the actual purpose of knowledge sharing.
On the flip side, there are some of the edtech startups that are optimally using the lockdown scenario for thriving their businesses. Udemy is one among these eLearning mobile applications. Udemy announced the launch of a free online learning drive, wherein users can login to the website and access the course of their choice. A lot of edTech app development in COVID-19 is underway.

ClassDojo is an online educational app, available for free. It connects the students, teachers, and parents through a single platform. There are a number of sharing options–images and videos–that makes information sharing easy.

ClassDojo is constantly working on its scalability to accommodate even a large number of students without any technical glitch. During the lockdown, it is helping many educational institutions to occupy a virtual room and conduct classes. It is the kind of an LMS providing business inspiration to other edTech stakeholders for LMS app development in COVID-19.

• ClassDojo offers an online app to teachers, parents, school leaders and students. Users can sign up to the app using the designation.
• A teacher can conduct an online class and share the access code with all the students. Students can use the access code and join the virtual classroom. One of the interesting features of the app is that it offers an opportunity to parents to participate along with their kids, given that they have the access code.
• The app enables the option to a school to send notifications and announcements to parents. Parents can also access videos and photos of schools using the app.
• Since a mass of parents speak regional language, the app offers a translator within the app, which helps parents view a notification in the language they speak.
• Students can create their portfolio using the app and include photos and videos in it.

Engagement of students in the classroom is another story to reflect upon. Now when students are sitting at their homes with distractions to the very core of it, they tend to lose focus on the lectures.
TopHat is the solution that helps professors engage their students better. It is more of an online test-kinda app that enables interactive learning sessions. Recently, TopHat made it to the news for launching a learning platform, powerful enough to enhance the learning experience. Besides this, TopHat has also launched their first cloud-based educational engagement software for higher education.

• The app enables users to signup either as a professor or a student. Professors can leverage the app to conduct live polls and quizzes, during the learning session to gauge the understanding level of their students.
• Professors can take the attendance online and store it to view it at the end of a seminar.
• The app allows professors to assign online homework and review it using various tools integrated within the educational app.
• Professors can host discussions, debates, and competitions to improve the participation of students and automate grading.
• The app provides results to multiple choice questions and quizzes in real time to cut down on the hassles of manual grading.

Lockdown has been imposed on people and their movement. However, essential goods and services are still available.

And medicines and pharmaceuticals fall in the priority list. It may be surprising to know that despite there being no restriction on the pharmacies, the number of shoppers buying medicines from local stores has slumped.

Wondering what incited this slump?

Well, the concept of chemist home deliveries is not a new one. Post the disruption of Uber, the pharmaceutical and medicine niche also followed suit to rethink innovation in the sector. This gave leeway to many chemists and pharmacists to opt for medicine delivery app development in COVID-19 to cut down on the rush to their stores and be able to cater to a mass.

Today, there are dedicated eCommerce marketplaces for pharmaceuticals and users are responding positively to it. Lockdown further added an interesting angle for the sector. The ‘no contact’ medicine delivery has gained significant traction and is likely to persist even when waves of COVID-19 ebbs. We might see the advent of more digital businesses in COVID-19 in the sector.

Walgreens is an American company operating as the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the U.S., just after CVS Health. The company has a mark in the sector for filling prescriptions, photo services, health information, and health and wellness products. It holds 9,277 pharmacy stores in the U.S., as of writing. It specializes in doorstep delivery of medicine and pharmaceuticals across the U.S. The company made a switch to the digital channel at the right time through its pharmacy app development.

Recently, Walgreens made it to the headlines for its thoughtfulness during the COVID-19 crisis. The company announced that it is waving off the delivery fees for the eligible prescriptions during this situation.

• Walgreens has an exclusive eCommerce website and mobile applications for medicines. Users can avail services such as 90-day refills as well as early refill authorizations through the app.
• The app consists of a Walgreens Pharmacy Chat, which is a secure 24/7 chat module for customers to resolve their queries regarding their prescriptions.
• In order to make online shopping easier for new users during the lockdown, the company offers free delivery on the purchase of any medicine from the website.
• The app offers a feature, Walgreens Find Care, which provides virtual care for individuals suffering from common illnesses, mental health, and more.
• Users can access detailed drug info using the app and use the appointment scheduler to meet a certified practitioner or pharmacist at Walgreens.
• The app consists of a store locator that helps individuals to find the nearest Walgreens pharmacy nearby, using their zip code.
• The app offers express delivery when users opt for Walgreens express before checking out.

MyMedKit is an Australian company, offering on-demand prescription service. The company specializes in delivering prescription-based medicines and over-the-counter medical supplies.

While the company was established and quite popular even before the fear of COVID-19 penetrated in, the pandemic deserves some credit for the increased sales of MyMedKit. During the lockdown, when the fear of being in contact with an infected person is at a peak, MyMedKit has taken a ‘no contact’ approach to deliver medicines.

• MyMedKit is an online eCommerce portal for buying prescription medicines, available for both—Android and iOS users.
• The app allows users to take a picture of their script or prescription and send it across to the pharmacist, using the app. The pharmacist receives the request, and the delivery is made within seven business days.
• The app is used by riders, customers, and pharmacists. On placing the order, a rider is assigned for the order. The pharmacy prepares order and assigns the order to the designated rider.
• The driver conducts a verification of the order and sets out for the delivery.
• The app allows the customer to track the live location of the rider, along with the delivery time.
• Customers can look for over-the-counter products using the ‘Explore MyMedKit’ option consisting of Skincare, Health Foods, Baby Products, Fragrance, etc.