The pandemic and staying at home are two things that are inseparable in our minds. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, which requires restrictions on people's mobility through the #StayAtHome or #atHomeAja campaign, it has become something that has its own impression for us. Many people adapt to conditions that require them to be at home more.
Almost everyone does various important activities at home, such as work and school. Forcing various activities that previously could be done outside the home and making the house a place of rest afterward, can no longer be applied. Both important activities and activities in free time, activities with family and on weekends will also be carried out in a limited scope within the home.
Because of that, of course it can cause boredom to the atmosphere of the house and require new things to do in order to eliminate boredom from these monotonous activities. Maybe some of us don't realize that the activities that we consider new are some of the activities that we didn't think of before but it turned out that during the pandemic they became activities that were able to overcome boredom during #StayAtHome.
In fact, these activities became a trend and went viral through social media. Because it turns out that most of these activities are not activities that have never existed before but rather are new activities because they have never been tried to do.
These activities also turned out to be possible, you know, we still do it again at a time like this. In fact, these activities can become hobbies and create new business opportunities that may be possible. Let's flashback to remember with 3 viral hobbies during the pandemic that might be new business ideas. Come on!
1. Hobby of Gardening and Growing Plants to Produce Cuan
Maybe these names have been heard or felt familiar several times: Monstera, Caladium, Begonia, Mother-in-law's Tongue. These names are some of the names of plants that had become famous and much sought after during the pandemic.
That's right, gardening and collecting ornamental plants are things that many people do during the pandemic. Reported via Wolipop, plant seeds, fertilizers, and pots are popular products in one e-commerce. In 2021 this trend in e-commerce can be seen from one of the categories that is the public's favorite, namely the Home and Living Category. From this it can be seen that gardening and growing plants have become a trend during the pandemic.
Of the various ornamental plants planted during the pandemic, apart from being viral, some even had high selling prices due to high interest and demand from plant lovers. The price of ornamental plants can reach the price of millions and even tens of millions for one type of ornamental plant.
One of the ornamental plants whose prices have soared since the high interest during the pandemic is the Monstera plant. Also, according to another article in Wolipop, the price of Monstera is based on how good and unique the leaf motif is. In addition, the health condition of the leaves is also a reference for the price of this plant. There is also a type of Monstera that does have an exorbitant price, namely the Thai Constellation type Monstera.
The increase in interest followed by a high price increase did not only occur in Monstera, other types of ornamental plants have also gone viral because of the price. One of the viral events about this ornamental plant trend was the exchange of two ornamental plants that were currently viral, Caladium and Philodendron, with an Avanza car. The types that are exchanged are the Philodendron Florida Beauty Variegata and the taro-talas
2. Viral Foods You Can Make at Home
When the pandemic came, cooking at home for some people was not something that had to be done every day, but with the pandemic and #at home, cooking at home is an activity of choice to fill spare time. Until finally we even try new recipes and share them on social media so that others can share and try.
One of the viral recipes during the pandemic is Dalgona Coffee. The term Dalgona for coffee lovers is certainly not foreign. However, since the #diRumahAja campaign, Dalgona has become more widely discussed and even sought to know its origins.
Not many know that Dalgona coffee is not a pure recipe for making drinks from coffee. You could say that Dalgona coffee is the creation of a food from South Korea.
That's right, it turns out that Dalgona coffee, which we may be more familiar with, is actually the result of an innovation from a food that is also called Dalgona. In the form of honeycomb candy snacks sold by street vendors in South Korea. It is said that the taste of the foam or foam in Dalgona coffee reminds those who consume it with the taste of this snack.
Meanwhile, as reported by Sprudge, the viral Dalgona Coffee, which can be made from instant coffee, hit in 2020 just as the corona virus pandemic began to spread throughout the world. The Dalgona coffee recipe itself is often associated with South Korean actor Jung Il-Woo on the South Korean television show, "Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant." then it went viral starting from the Tiktok application to Instagram with the hashtag #DalgonaChallenge which then everyone vying to try it. With ingredients that are fairly easy to find and how to make them that don't require special skills, this dalgona trend has gone viral and even profitable because it can be sold.
In addition to the Dalgona coffee trend, it turns out that during the pandemic, Dalgona snacks also became a trend itself with its appearance in a series from South Korea 'Squid Game'. Although Dalgona itself is a native South Korean food, its popularity has faded over time.
Reporting from The Economic Times, the seller of this dalgona candy disappeared in the early 2000s due to the increasing demand for online shopping and the emergence of various types of cheap sweets that emerged from the rising candy industry in South Korea. With its appearance in the Squid Game series, it is considered to be able to introduce this candy to the younger generation, even today this seller from Dalgona in South Korea is often found again.
3. Light Exercise Saturation Remover
The trend of sports in society has increased with the occurrence of a pandemic and the limitations of society to be in public spaces. As reported by Wolipop, that the increase in sports activities carried out at home in 2020 and 2021 is due to the closure of gyms or fitness centers and concerns of transmission through these places. Some of the popular sports activities are cycling, yoga and even virtual fitness classes which are becoming popular at this time.
Easy access to guides for exercising has certainly made this trend popular among many people. Some people who previously did not have exercise equipment decided to buy sports equipment that made it easier for these activities to be done at home. The Washington Post reports that Americans alone have seen their consumption of sporting goods such as cardio equipment and yoga mats increase during the pandemic. The increase occurred in sports equipment that can be used near the house and outside the home to exercise and pass the time from monotonous activities at home during the pandemic.
The increase in public interest in sports was even a good opportunity for the development of the digital economy in Indonesia. As reported by detikSport, there is an increase in which the share of online sales has increased during the pandemic in the use of online fitness applications, individual sports equipment such as bicycles and running equipment, as well as e-sports. The use of e-commerce will certainly be able to significantly increase sales of sports equipment for MSMEs who were on-boarding that year.
After knowing the various activities we do during the pandemic have become a new hobby for us, it turns out that we have various business opportunities. By knowing the business opportunities of each of these hobbies, do you have a new idea to make it a new business trend when the pandemic is over?