Digital Customer Trends During Lockdown
Not all of the changes triggered by the pandemic were good for tech companies. Job losses and closures became a familiar reality. We reveal which apps struggled during lockdown.
Shared Mobility
Turns out the sharing economy doesn’t vibe with a pandemic. Uber was down 75%, with FreeNow reporting drops of up to 95%. Daimler and BMW are now looking to offload FreeNow and ParkNow. Ola laid off a third of her workforce.
Holidays
Skyscanner were forced to lay off 1/5th of their staff. Across the industry there was a virtual halt to holiday bookings. Airbnb proved particularly susceptible – with their struggles hitting home retail markets.
Workspace
Admittedly WeWork was already in a bad place, but 2020 has seen them lose half of their UK workforce. Softbank has bailed them out again – perhaps hoping the new normal will need more remote desks?
Microstreaming
Quibi raised $2 billion in funding, but despite getting over a million subscribers is already on track to shut down and is scouting round for other streaming sites to buy up their commissioned content. Did the lack of commuters kill it?
Financial Apps
App downloads slumped for challenger banks with a 23% dip across the board. Monzo laid off a chunk of staff – though it does appear that the ship has been righted.