Coronavirus Threat Shoots Up Sales for Hand Sanitizer Startups

This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant.

As we stepped into a new decade this January 2020, a new health challenge, the Coronavirus enveloped the world by spreading its tentacles at a rapid rate. The traces of the epidemic were first discovered in one of China’s prominent districts, Wuhan, where it created havoc with death tolls skyrocketing at rates like never before. Presently, all the major countries and regions around the world are being affected by the coronavirus attack and the number of patients suffering from the virus continues to increase at a fast pace. Governments and social organizations worldwide are putting in their joint efforts to curb the consequences of the disease by launching relief operations on a large scale. Special measures are being taken by the organizations to educate people about the necessary precautions to be taken to protect themselves from coming under the plight of the disease.

Not just health hazards, the coronavirus epidemic has caused a significant downfall in the global economy as well, with business entities being compelled to halt their operations to ensure the safety of their employees. Industries such as airlines, tourism, manufacturing units, IT, etc. have suffered a major setback because of the corona outbreak. Contrary to this, the threatening situation created by corona has turned amazingly productive for the healthcare industries. The reports reveal that in the past few weeks, the firms dealing in masks, sanitizers, disinfectants have been enjoying pathbreaking sales on a global scale.

According to the report published by a U.K-based market research firm, Kantar, the sales of hand sanitizers have witnessed a whopping 255% surge in February 2020. In comparison to 2019, Britishers were found purchasing 7% more liquid hand soaps and 10% more on household cleaning solutions. The sales in Malaysia have touched the mark of 1 million Malaysian ringgit during the week that ended on January 26. The figures are 800% more than what the country spends on hand sanitizers in an average week. The sales in Italy and the U.S have also been on the rise with countries recording a surge of 29% and 1,400%, respectively, ever since the corona outbreak. Italy recorded 2,041 cases of Coronavirus, with 52 confirmed deaths.

The escalating sales have forced firms to set a limit on the number of hand sanitizers that can be purchased by an individual. The same has been implemented by the British drug store, Boots that has set a limit of two hand sanitizers per purchase across its multiple stores. H-E-B, a Texas-based grocery chain, has limited the customer purchase of hand sanitizers to four per purchase. The pathbreaking demand has led to the selling out of stocks at Amazon, Walmart, and Walgreens, etc. This has created an upsetting situation as some third-party sellers are inflating the prices of the hand sanitizers on e-marketplaces.

Surprisingly, the growing threat of Coronavirus has made the U.S people hoard stocks of cleaning products, disinfectants, and hand sanitizers to an unbelievable extent. The piling up of hand sanitizers by the people has created unrest in the market space with shortages popping up around the world while creating major concerns for companies to meet up the required global demands. Recently, eBay was forced to ban sales for hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes, and surgical wipes from the U.S residents. The step has been taken by eBay to counter the price gouging, which has been on the rise in the past few weeks amongst the people who are desperate to stock things to protect their family members from the corona attack. The sellers were instructed not to make new listings for the N95 masks, N100 masks, disinfectant wipes, and hand sanitizers.

Conclusion

Coronavirus is expanding its roots around the world, causing serious casualties, deaths, and infections of people in different parts of the world. The urge to safeguard themselves from getting attacked by the disease, people are purchasing hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and cleaning solutions in very large numbers. The coronavirus epidemic has become one of the major concerns for governments across the nations. However, likely, the world will soon get free of the deadly coronavirus implications.