Ask HN: online business that will thrive in great depression

4 points·stuffthatmatter··2 comments

I've heard that these (brick and mortar) businesses do well in recessions. - Funeral homes - Accountants - Health care - Pawn shops - Flea markets - Debt collection agencies - Equipment repair - Grocery stores

What online businesses do people think will survive during the greater depression?

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I think it's nearly impossible to predict. We are in the middle of a societal revolution brought on by the availability of instantaneous communication across a distance and perfect memory and repeatability.... so, I think previous models of what happened no longer apply. Are pawn shops and flea markets going to rise now that ebay exists? I don't think so. I think accountants will go down because of quicken and even grocery stores are threatened by mail order business for nonperishables.... I think what will do well in the coming years are companies that exploit the new capabilities of this revolution, just like companies that exploited industrial principles did well in the last revolution. I think the current recession is just minor turbulence in the midst of the larger sea change.

I've seen successful sales teams that emphasized how their product would help make money when the stock market was doing well; and when the stock market was doing poorly, they'd emphasize how their product would help save money.

Since people worry about their finances when the economy is weak, perhaps online businesses that help people manage their own costs will do better than an online jewelry store (for example).

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