The Future of Mobility in a Post-COVID World
The Signal: How soon after lockdowns end will you feel comfortable stepping into a cramped subway car? Early indications are that the ways people get around in a post-COVID world are shifting. Chinese traffic data shows that daily traffic in early April (once the country had recovered from the worst of its COVID-19 outbreak) was consistently above that of a year prior. Car purchases in Wuhan have also rebounded. All of which suggests that people will continue to avoid public transportation post-COVID, instead favoring private vehicle usage.
Public transit systems around the world will be forced to operate at reduced capacity to stay safe for commuters. LA’s Metro system, for example, is running its modified Sunday service every day of the week in response to fewer travelers. But even if we take into account a reduction in daily commuters on account of the WFH trend, there will still be billions of people who will need to move around on a daily basis.
While this dynamic could push many people into private car ownership, affordability will be a major stumbling block. We spoke with Thomas McLennan, a senior policy advisor at the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association, who predicts that we’ll see a sharp increase in consumers’ leasing and sharing vehicles, as opposed to owning them.
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Don’t press snooze on this opportunity: sleep supplements
The signal: As meditation becomes mainstream, people may be surprised to find that searches for sleep apps double their meditation counterpart. As people invest in getting a better night’s rest, there’s opportunity abound, including physical products like weighted blankets or premium PJs, supplements, popular insomnia drugs having their patents expire, companies paying their employees to sleep better, marketing for sleep specialists, or online sleep education (ex: sleep apnea test has 27k searches per month).
The alternative milk market is getting frothy
The signal: As more people wave goodbye to dairy, alternative milk is slowly taking over; it has already cornered 13% of the market. With the exception of soy milk, all of the alt-milks have been on the up, with some of the newer entrants including hemp milk and pea milk. Other alt-products are getting attention, including cashew cheese, with 18100 searches per month.
Capitalizing on the Airpods market, making more money than Shopify
The signal: Since killing the headphone jack, Apple has graced the world with AirPods, which did an estimated 60m units in 2019. That means AirPods alone are bringing in approx ~$10b in revenue, more than Twitter, Shopify, or Spotify, to name a few popular tech giants. Opportunity lies in Apple opening up SiriOS or the wave of iPhone accessories (including cases, cleaning kits, hooks, and keychains) which have shown “hockey stick” growth alongside their hardware predecessor.
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