The images have been around the world. As containment measures to stem the spread of Covid-19 began to multiply around the world, supermarket shelves were taken over. Among the most popular products: rice, flour, pasta and, more surprisingly, toilet paper. To the great satisfaction of the manufacturers of the precious rollers: Procter & Gamble, one of the market leaders, recently announced a 10% increase in its sales in the United States.

While the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic raise fears of an unprecedented global economic crisis since the Great Depression, a handful of companies are doing very successful business.

"People want entertainment"

With more than 4 billion residents forced to stay at home, the home entertainment sector has managed to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. Large beneficiary of the health crisis, the American giant Netflix said that, since the beginning of the year, 15.8 million people have subscribed to its video platform. Or double what the company had planned.  

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"The thing we are sure of is that the Internet is growing and taking a big place in people's lives, luckily. And people want entertainment, they want to be able to get away and connect, that the times be difficult or happy, "said Reed Hastings, the boss of Netflix, in a video posted by the group.

Some confined people have found other ways of looking after themselves during this period of forced isolation. In the United States, sales of marijuana have increased by 50% in the states where it is legal, causing an increase in activity for cannabis deliverers. "A lot of the clients I talk to every day tell me that they use cannabis to calm their anxieties, stress, stuff like that, and to help sleep at night," said Alex Brown, cannabis deliveryman interviewed by Reuters. people don't have much to do, you know, so from a recreational point of view, it can make the day go faster and more interesting. "

Sex toys and fitness online

Other sectors benefited from an unexpected increase in demand. In Denmark, Colombia and New Zealand, manufacturers of sex toys have seen their sales explode. "Last week was crazy. We increased our sales by around 100% in all the Scandinavian countries, says Mathilde Mackowski, co-founder of Sinful, manufacturer of sex toys in Denmark. I think today we are used to it to this new life and realized that we should have a little more fun. "

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Home fitness companies are also doing well, like Peloton, a start-up specializing in connected exercise bikes, which has seen the value of its shares soar. The manufacturers of traditional bicycles are not to be outdone, who too have seen a sharp increase in bicycle sales.

Few companies, however, can boast of having achieved the same performance as Amazon. According to observers, the American giant of online sales enjoys "unprecedented demand", due to the closure of a very large number of stores around the world. The market value of the world leader in digital commerce has reached the record level of $ 1.2 trillion.

As for the fortune of its owner, Jeff Bezos, already crowned with the tire of "richest man in the world", it should reach 24 billion dollars this year, according to the Bloomberg agency. This is not the crisis for everyone. 

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