Work from Home: Online Entrepreneurship and Side Hustles Boom during Pandemic, According to New Research
ClickBank Rundown Report examines more than 3.5 million data points
BOISE, Idaho–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ClickBank, a global online retailer and affiliate marketplace, today released its quarterly Rundown Report (https://go.clickbank.com/clickbank-report-2020), pulling data from more than 3.5 million transactions the company processed worldwide throughout 2020. Developed to analyze and share up-to-date insights with online entrepreneurs and the broader public, the free report’s findings show how the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted work-from-home entrepreneurship in context of the broader economy.
ClickBank has been selling products online for more than 20 years, with analytics and direct access to millions of data points tied to its global business that can often be extrapolated or applied to broader societal trends. The Rundown Report’s findings include:
- Data is now showing that many of those who lost employment or income in 2020 due to the pandemic shifted some of their attention to making money online.
- Specifically, global ClickBank account sign ups increased 26% in 2020 compared to 2019. For a company that’s been around for more than two decades, an increase of that size is an indication of anomaly.
- There is also a clear reverse correlation between online entrepreneurship and employment trends. In April of 2020, there was an 88.1% increase in ClickBank account sign-ups during a month where unemployment in the US reached an alarming 14.7%. During the months of 2020 with the highest unemployment, ClickBank account sign-ups surged worldwide. Not only was there a substantial increase in sign-ups, the numbers show that more of these new users were able to make money online than ever before.
- For example, in 2020, the number of people earning over $1,000 online via ClickBank was up 42.2% from 2019. This influx indicates that new clients were getting the hang of ecommerce and affiliate marketing and able to make sufficient sales to be issued a paycheck.
- 2020 also showed a 66.4% increase in paychecks issued to new clients. Clients in the US account for 39% of those paychecks. Clients in India accounted for 8%, which was a 162% increase over paychecks issued to new clients in 2019 (In ClickBank terms, a paycheck is a client’s earnings from sales of their ClickBank product, or commission earnings from promoting a ClickBank product.
There were also noteworthy trends tied to product purchases reflected in ClickBank’s business:
- Physical product sales on ClickBank surged 185% in 2020 compared to 2019 sales. This increase is largely due to an increased demand for fitness supplements and products to offset health worries about the pandemic or weight gain from increased time at home.
- In 2020, sales of digital products increased 16.3% over 2019.
“The past year has been exceptionally challenging for so many, but also showed signs of strength in some surprising areas,” said Kuba Poraj-Kuczewski, ClickBank Vice President. “Thus far, our 2021 data is showing continued growth in online entrepreneurship. We will continue to monitor and report data here in the US and beyond, as we hope this provides some specific and useful measures of how entrepreneurs and broader economic trends relate to changing times.”
About ClickBank
ClickBank (www.clickbank.com) is a global online retailer and affiliate marketplace. The company sells a variety of physical and online products to consumers in more than 200 countries. Founded in 1998, ClickBank is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
Contacts
Mark S. Peterson
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206-390-0204
