- Consumption. What are the compulsive purchases of toilet paper these days?
If the first week of confinement (even the previous one) the product that devastated the most in supermarkets was toilet paper, as the weeks have passed it has been replaced by other products that were not so important before and are now growing a lot. They are dyes, yeasts and flours.
The Spanish have given us to start making confectionery: biscuits, breads, muffins. In some supermarkets the replacement of yeast and flour, the main ingredients for making these sweets, has had to be increased.
According to data from the consulting firm Kantar Worldpanel, within packaged food, the categories most linked to confectionery, such as flour, butter, margarine, sugar or cream "are the ones that have achieved the greatest growth in line with these new habits of the Spanish" .
Flours and semolina grew by 106% and butter by 48%, compared to the pre-confinement period. The sale of alcoholic beverages also grows significantly, although this occurs because there is a transfer from the hospitality channel to the domestic one: since we no longer go to the bar, we consume at home. Beer sales grew by 23% and high-grade beverages by 17%. Remember that most of the turnover of these companies (breweries, distilleries) comes from the hotel and restaurant business, so these increases do not compensate for the loss of business derived from the closure of bars and restaurants.
Enjoy in the kitchen
"Once I do not know if adapted or mentalized to this forced confinement, the Spanish buyer has gone from a stage of panic, in which we have filled our pantry as if it were a bunker, to one of resignation and even enjoyment of this new situation. Proof of this is the increase in sales of the pastry category in this last week, "says María José Lechuga, expert in consumption and purchasing habits.
"Being more at home, in the case of baking, we seek pleasure over healthier foods and it is one of the most popular activities to do with the family. In the case of alcohol, we bring home the vermouth moment and the rods "explains Carlos Cotos, Kantar expert.
"Experts endlessly recommend that in order to better confinement, it is good to carry out tasks that we have pending: learning languages, making a repair in the house that we have continually postponed, learning to cook .... Homemade pastry seems a good ally in this moment: appetizing, healthy and entertaining for both adults and children, "says Lechuga.
At home, but tinted
Another element that has increased its sales significantly is hair dye. Just in this third week is when the roots of our hair begin to emerge. Not being able to go to hairdressers (they have been closed since the state of alarm was declared), we have chosen to do it at home. Sales of these hair coloring products grew 8%, according to data from Kantar, which checks week by week how this shopping basket varies as confinement continues.
In perfumery and hygiene, sales of hand soaps are doubled, while fragrances and makeup fall in sales after the closure of perfumery chains and changes in our routines since the closure.
"Although we are confined we are still socialized. Instagram and all the new virtual connection tools make us continue to have to take care of our image, which is good to maintain healthy routines and positive spirits," says Lechuga.
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