Revealed: the most popular businesses launched during lockdown

Food and drink delivery, personal trainers and cleaning companies fill top three spots

Food and drink delivery services have been the most popular businesses to start during lockdown, followed by personal trainers and cleaning companies, according to research by website building service Web Eden.

The company also discovered that women aged between 35-49 were most likely to have started a business online during lockdown and Bristol is the UK city that saw the most entrepreneurs become their own boss in the last three months.

The franchise sector is currently reporting similar trends, with brands such as Ecocleen and Hitio Gym announcing ambitious UK expansion plans, as demand increases for their services, while 37 per cent of new franchisees are women, according to the latest British Franchise Association NatWest sector survey.

To find the top businesses started during lockdown, Web Eden analysed customer enquiries and internal data of new sites created between March 16 and June 16 to reveal the most popular types of business to have launched online while the UK was under lockdown restrictions.

The eight most popular are:
1. Independent food and drink delivery services
2. Personal trainers
3. Cleaning companies
4. Personal blogs
5. Crafting/gifts
6. Tutoring
7. Service/consulting businesses (e.g. marketing, accountants, PR, etc)
8. Sextech

Web Eden saw a 340 increase in web traffic to its site in April compared to February, with new start-ups being the most popular customer during this time, followed by small hospitality businesses.

In terms of age demographics, those between 35-49 were the most likely to create a website (36 per cent of all registrations) and launch a new business, followed by those aged 18-34 (27 per cent) and between 50-65 (21 per cent).

In terms of geographic spread, the south west and Bristol saw the largest share of website registrations, followed by London and the East Midlands.

Subscription services look to be on the rise, with 46 per cent of the new businesses featuring some form of subscription. The most popular type of business to incorporate subscriptions was the food and drink delivery services, followed by sustainable product sellers.

Henry Lewington, founder of Web Eden, says: “It’s amazing to see Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit persevere through these testing times and especially great to see people turn their hobbies into micro businesses.

“I hope their businesses continue to thrive and that more people will be inspired to pursue their passion.”