Coronavirus phrases inspire new retail start-up businesses

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Coronavirus phrases inspire new retail start-up businesses.

The UK lockdown has seen an increase in new companies forming to meet the demands resulting from coronavirus, with ‘COVID-19’, ‘lockdown’ and ‘pandemic’ featuring heavily in the names of new businesses created since March. And retail accounts for 10 per cent of the lockdown-inspired business start-up sector, as businesses and entrepreneurs look to meet increased retail demand during the pandemic.

More than 200 newly-registered businesses have taken inspiration from the pandemic to meet demands for new services.

Research from leading accountants, SJD Accountancy to mark the launch of its new business naming tool, found a total of 52 UK businesses now include the word ‘lockdown’ in their name, with retail being the most popular sector with products such as PPE, gardening tools and IT equipment on offer.

A number of these retail companies also formed in response to a spike in grocery takeaway orders at the height of the pandemic, with new small businesses such as Lockdown Bakers, Lockdown Pizza and Lockdown Liquor established for food and drink sales. 

115 new businesses have used the phrase COVID-19 in their name, with cleaning companies accounting for 20 per cent of them as enquiries for sanitisation services skyrocketed.

Thirty newly-formed companies feature ‘coronavirus’ in their name, largely specialising in the medical market and focused on things such as the distribution of home testing kits. 

Meanwhile, ‘pandemic’ was the inspiration behind 18 new businesses working across management consultancy, manufacturing and social work. 

James Foster, Senior Commercial Manager at SJD Accountancy, said: "The pandemic caused a sudden demand for lots of services we wouldn’t normally need, and we’ve seen businesses attempt to plug the gap and even go as far as naming themselves after phrases connected to the coronavirus pandemic that have now become part of everyday conversation. 

"It’s clear these businesses have a specific focus on COVID related services, and likely chose these names to help reach their target audiences and markets quickly. Selecting a name is vital for a company’s identity, but it’s also one of the trickiest decisions to make, it’s been fascinating to look at the entrepreneurial spirit people have shown towards creating a new business during a global pandemic. 

“When it comes to helping our clients form their company, we take them through every stage of the process but often find that landing on a name can be tough. Our new business naming tool is proving popular to help people as it generates automatic suggestions and the tool links directly to Companies House data, giving confidence that any generated names are immediately available."