DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: The almost year-long COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the investment landscape, with multiple long-term trends picking up speed. And the world is set to become more digitalized, automated and sustainability-sensitive as life style and economy undergo profound changes, according to experts and investment advisors.
The faster growth of e-commerce, online entertainment and long-distance work have made people rely more on the digital world.
The skyrocketing stock prices of Zoom Video Communications Inc. and Netflix Inc. serve as good examples on how sweeping changes could bring opportunities to investors.
Globally, the average share of products and services that are partially or fully digitalized reached 55 percent as of July 2020, up from 35 percent in December 2019, which represented seven years of process made prior to the pandemic, according to an online survey by McKinsey covering 899 C-level executives and senior managers across the globe.
The 5G technology alone creates 619 billion U.S. dollars of annual revenue potential in real-time automation, enhanced video services, monitoring and tracking, connected vehicles, augmented reality and other areas, according to a recent annual outlook report by UBS AG.
“5G enables myriad business models and could spur the growth of a new generation of platform leaders capable of harnessing 5G technology,” said the UBS report.
Yearly capital expenditure on 5G equipment production, installation and maintenance is expected to grow from 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 to as much as 150 billion U.S. dollars in 2025 while more than 1 billion devices would be connected to 5G networks in the next three years, according to UBS. Meanwhile, annual revenues of the fintech industry could rise to 500 billion U.S. dollars by 2030, up from 150 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, with significant scope of growth in contactless and mobile payments as well as e-commerce, UBS said. Retailers saw significant growth in online sales, and increasing businesses like restaurants, grocery stores and fashion brands are embracing consumers by offering online options. U.S. consumers spent 9 billion U.S. dollars on Black Friday of 2020, an increase of 21.6 percent year on year, according to Adobe Analytics.
“Once customers have grown accustomed to using primarily digital payments, many will not revert to traditional means,” said UBS.
