Despite the doom, gloom, and talks of recession, some online businesses are still profiting.



Turns out, sales in coffee-related products and items along with bakeware increased since Malaysia imposed a Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18, 2020 to stop the spread of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

Since half the world's population has gone into lockdown, a slew of trends emerged and among them is Dalgona Coffee.

Sorry, what's Dalgona Coffee?

It's the best thing to happen in recent months.

Popularized on TikTok and originating from South Korea, Dalgona Coffee could easily be the world's most famous drink now. And it's also pretty easy to make!

Using just five ingredients (four for some of you), people who are stuck indoors because of the COVID-19 pandemic are totally all-in on this yummy, creamy craze.



We even showed you how you can easily make one for yourself. Yes, you can use the same method to create other beverages too, if coffee is not your thing.

The craze brings in money.

Yes, there's also a matcha and chocolate variant.

Coffee and bakewares are currently among the hot items being purchased online by Malaysians.



With the Movement Control Order (MCO) in place to flatten the curve of the coronavirus, many are turning to e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Shopee to get their caffeine fix.

The popularity of Dalgona Coffee has contributed to a spike in sales for these items on Shopee and Lazada in Malaysia.

Shopee.

According to Shopee's Regional Managing Director, Ian Ho, the interest in Dalgona Coffee spilled over to the Singapore-based e-commerce platform.

"Dalgona Coffee has broken the Internet, taking over our feeds be it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for some lighthearted content amid the COVID-19 outbreak and the MCO. The interest from social media has definitely also expanded onto our platform as Malaysians need to get their ingredients and equipment to make the beverage, and are turning online to do so.

"We recorded a sudden surge in interest and purchases of Dalgona Coffee-related products such as Nescafe classic, Nescafe Gold, instant black coffee, Korea’s KANU coffee, sugar, whisk, electric whisk, and hand mixer."

He added that keyword searches for these items increased to a whopping 2,328 percent (or 23 times more) while orders surged to 1,531 percent (15 times) at its peak.

"Both searches and orders of these items continued to trend on our platform for over two weeks," Ho said.

Lazada.

Lazada also has seen an increase in other items too. IMAGE: Lazada.

Meanwhile, Shopee's competitor Lazada also experienced similar trends. According to its spokesperson, the platform saw an increase in sales of food items, personal care, and household grocery products. Yes, coffee is among them.



"We saw a surge in coffee related products purchased during the MCO. Daily average of milk frother purchases doubled by more than 200 percent followed by coffee machines, coffee and tea as an ingredient," the spokesperson explained.

With Malaysia experiencing shortage of bread no thanks to panic buying and the popularity of the Dalgona Coffee trend which surged during the MCO, more people are turning to online businesses to avoid the long queues and risk contracting the virus.



"The other trend that is slowly rising is baking and breadmaking, where bakeware purchase in particular increased by more than 50 percent," the spokesperson revealed, adding that demand for teleconferencing and computer accessories has also increased.

Lazada has also partnered with Mercy Malaysia, Malaysian Red Crescent Society and UNICEF through its LazadaForGood campaign to assist and support the frontliners and those in need financially.

Nice! Be right back, gonna make myself a cup of Dalgona Coffee.

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Cover image sourced from Popular Mechanics/Getty and Vox.