Wholesale and retail best performing industries post-Covid

New research analysing how much every industry has been affected after the Covid-19 pandemic has found wholesale the most resilient industry in the UK, followed by retail.

Using the ONS and government data, the study by marketing training hub School of Marketing compared the number of business openings and closures in the last eight quarters (from Q2 2020 to Q1 2022) with the previous eight quarters.

In the wholesale industry for every 100 wholesale businesses born, 101.5 businesses died pre-pandemic. This result decreased by 20 per cent post-pandemic, where in the last eight business quarters, only 81.44 businesses have died for every 100 wholesale businesses born.

Businesses in retail were found to be the next most successful after the impact of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic there were on average 79.75 business deaths for every 100 business births, and this number has dropped 12 per cent post-pandemic with roughly 69.94 businesses dying for every 100 births since the second quarter of 2020.

The information and communication industry was the worst affected, followed by the finance and insurance sector.

It was also found that in the eight business quarters from April 2018 up to March 2020, the UK average was that 86.58 businesses died for every 100 that were born. Post- pandemic this number had increased by 16 per cent, with current figures showing that for every 100 new businesses, roughly 100.67 have died, making the average number of business births and deaths almost equal since the pandemic began.

“This data shows how much more difficult it has become to survive as a business since the pandemic. In the two years before the impact of Covid-19 on average more businesses were created that closed each quarter, but now the numbers of company births and deaths are basically equal,” said Ritchie Mehta, chief executive of School of Marketing.