You’ve probably seen the videos of people
in long lines waiting to shop.
Or perhaps stood in a long line yourself.
In recent days, panicked shoppers in America
and several other countries have cleared store
shelves.
So what are the most purchased items?
What foods do we think still suck even in
the midst of a pandemic?
In the US, when data analytics firms compared
dollar sales from the first two weeks of March
2020 to the same period last year, there was
a huge rise in the purchasing of a number
of items.
Let’s tackle the obvious one first, shall
we?
Toilet paper.
The purchase of toilet paper went up 60% in
the first week of March over the same time
in 2019.
By the end of the second week of March, toilet
paper purchase was up 212.7%.
It’s a real head scratcher, in the majority
of Covid-19 cases, bowel problems have not
been an issue.
As you can guess, in mid March there was a
lot of buying aimed at combating the spread of the virus:
Aerosol disinfectant was up 518.9% over last
year as was:
Rubbing alcohol up 277%
Multipurpose cleaners up 242.9% and bath & shower
wipes up 221.6%.
Some people thought it prudent to have health
and medicine items on hand in case someone
in their household got sick:
Thermometers went up 497.7%
Cold & flu remedies up 158.8%
Facial tissue up 195%
Cough remedies up 120.2% and vitamins up 93.2%
While hand sanitizer sales were unusually
high the second week of March at a 207.5%
increase over last year, they actually plummeted
since the first week of March 2020 when purchases
were up 470%.
The drop in quantity sold wasn’t due to
a lack of demand though, but from stores not
being able to keep it stock.
As for food, many households stocked up on
shelf stable staples many of which are commonly
purchased prior to hurricanes and blizzards.
Bottled water purchases went up 99.4%
Powdered milk products were up 126.3%
Dried beans up 230.5%
Canned meat up 187.8%
Rice up 166.1%
Canned or packaged tuna went up 142.3% and
soup was up 126.6%
Oat milk continues to have a real moment,
with purchases up a whopping 347.3%
Quite a few people thought it was very important
to keep extra snacks on hand:
Popcorn went up 47.7% over mid March 2019
as did:
Pretzels at 46.7%
Potato chips at 29.6%
Pastries at 23.6%
Ice cream at 23.1% and chocolate at 19%.
Shoppers stocked up on liquor, all except
for one particular brand of beer which will
probably have to change its name in the future.
Though perishable, milk, eggs, butter, cheese
and bread were also popular items that stores
sold out of quickly.
Things eager shoppers left behind in ravaged
stores were: Manhattan clam chowder,
the tomato based kind, pickled herring, chocolate
hummus, unsalted baked potato chips and refrigerated
spinach pasta.
Frozen pineapple and ham pizza, frozen and
canned lima beans, vegan cheese and nonfat
milk were also left forlorn on shelves.
Last but not least, data shows that shoppers
bought 17.7% less perfume and 17% less sunscreen
than mid March of 2019.
So the majority of us are planning to hang
out inside and practice social distancing.
Excellent!
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