Editors Note: This is a guest post. 

The pandemic has completely changed the way that most markets in the world work. Instead of being able to go out to the store and buy supplies, people are turning to alternative methods. Furthermore, people are finding new distractions during this time, including a growing number of people that are trying marijuana. Between legalization and increased stress, people love the opportunity to buy marijuana. We’ll show you how the demand for this product and others have increased. 

Marijuana Sales Records During the Pandemic

It is hard to put a finger on the exact reason that marijuana was booming during the pandemic, but a few reasons are certainly to blame. First off, people were home more often, so they were no longer beholden to the rules for tests that workplaces implement. If you combine that with the stress that comes with the pandemic and the increased number of places that were legalizing weed, you have a recipe for success in many ways. 

Some marijuana retailers were seeing massive increases in their sales, some had upwards of 166% of their numbers compared to the same period of 2019. These huge numbers show that people were looking to enjoy marijuana during this unique time in history. 

While we can look at the different reasons why marijuana was such a hot commodity, it is more important to look at the increase in sales overall. For example, marijuana sales in the U.S. saw a 71% overall sales increase compared to 2019. Some individuals might attribute this to coping with the difficulties that come with being involved in the pandemic. Others know that the mysticism and derogatory elements of marijuana are starting to wane as a result of increased information and education. In short, more people feel safe using marijuana for medical and recreational usage now than ever before, and that is a sign of positive things to come considering the difficulties posed toward marijuana in the past. 

Sectors that Are Booming During Lockdown

Marijuana was certainly booming as a result of the lockdown, but that was hardly the only industry to see increased numbers. In fact, three other areas saw major increases in their utilization. Internet, home delivery, and fitness equipment were all industries that were called upon to help keep people comfortable and safe when the world changed last year. Take a look at how these industries transformed to serve the needs of their users. 

• Internet

The internet saw a vast increase in the number of users since more people were staying home than ever before. The increases came from many areas, though. For example, students had to stay home and get their education using digital outcomes, increasing the overall bandwidth of people using the net. Furthermore, people were staying at home and using their personal internet to power their workplace. 

Some people lost their jobs and were using the internet to look for new ones or stay entertained while they waited for the lockdowns to end. Of course, when people found that they were no longer able to find partners in person so they used online dating sites to meet partners. According to dating site askme4date the number of users has doubled during the lockdown.

All told, internet use increased about 60% from the year before, resulting in staggering numbers of people using the service for everything from dating to education.

• Home delivery services 

Home delivery services ensured that people no longer had to go get food on their own, thereby saving them from catching the virus. While numbers are hard to come by for this, some grocery delivery services saw a 500% increase from the number of people that had used their services the year before. This was completely necessary for some people that had health problems and older people that did not wish to risk getting COVID by going shipping. Also, since more people were home than ever before, they decided to get their food delivered so they could focus on work and other elements of their lives. 

• Fitness Equipment

Another aspect of life that changed as a result of COVID is the use of fitness equipment in the home setting. Before COVID, most people would go to a gym to work out. As COVID came to be a part of daily life, the gyms closed and more people wanted the opportunity to exercise from home, so they bought gym equipment. Major retailers were sold out of the products throughout most of 2020, and some shortages continue to develop into 2021. 

The world changed with the arrival of COVID-19. People had to change their priorities and their lives in so many ways that the market was strained. Fortunately, the marijuana market was growing anyways and had increased customers without drastically reducing the number of available products. Still, we could see lower amounts of available strains in 2021 as society continues to grapple with COVID.