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Toilet paper is one of the symbols of the corona crisis in Germany.

No product stands so much for panic and hamster purchases.

After all, every role was torn from the hands of the completely amazed dealers at times.

In many places, the coveted goods even had to be rationed as a result.

The industry behind it is still far from cheering.

With a view to 2020 as a whole, there were only isolated peaks in demand, as current data from market researcher IRI shows: at the very beginning of the pandemic, at the beginning of the second lockdown and in the days before Christmas.

The bottom line, however, is that the toilet paper segment has even developed below average compared to other product groups.

The statistics show that sales of toilet paper in food retailers and drugstores rose by eight percent in 2020.

The total FMCG sales, i.e. the revenues from fast-moving consumer goods such as food and hygiene articles, are on average as much as 8.9 percent plus.

Source: WORLD infographic

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“It was baked twice as much as in the previous year, but it didn't make the consumers go to the toilet twice as often,” says Chris Nilius, Director of Special Projects at IRI.

And so completely different products are high on the sales hit list for 2020, as the study "The Corona year 2020 in the FMCG market" shows, which is exclusively available to WELT.

Food and drink were very popular

Soaps and syndets achieved the greatest growth in sales with an increase of almost 75 percent compared to the previous year, followed by bathroom and sanitary cleaners with an increase of 68 percent and household gloves with over 55 percent.

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The other top ten products fall into the food and drink category, including legumes, canned meat and soda cartridges or pasta and flour.

The latter, like soaps and sanitary cleaners, are also in the top group when looking at the absolute sales gains, i.e. not just the percentage growth rates.

In this category, according to the IRI data, the large and always very profitable product groups such as cheese, sausage or coffee also move up.

Nilius explains the strong growth overall both with massive stocks and with continuously increased consumption in the home in times of home office and home schooling as well as closed catering and unusual vacation trips.

"Consumption has shifted towards supermarkets and discounters."

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In fact, there were only three weeks in 2020 in which the sales figures were below those of the respective week of the previous year.

Two of them alone can be explained by postponements: Easter and Whitsun took place a little earlier in 2020 and accordingly started against the 2019 stock purchases.

The sales peaks, on the other hand, were in March and April, when the first infections and deaths also became known in Germany and a lockdown was subsequently imposed.

At that time, retailer income regularly increased by 15, 25 or even 46 percent compared to the previous year.

It was different in the second wave.

According to the IRI figures, there was no massive hamstering again.

"Consumers have learned that the supply of goods in Germany is secure," explains expert Nilius.

The trend is towards one-stop shopping

The shopping locations of choice were hypermarkets and large supermarkets, i.e. shops with a sales area of ​​several thousand square meters.

“There is a strong trend towards one-stop shopping,” says Nilius.

"Consumers want to cover their needs with just one purchase and reduce their shopping trips in order to minimize contacts and thus their personal risk of infection."

With a plus of twelve percent, retailers such as Real and Kaufland or Rewe and Edeka are well above the average and also well ahead of the other shops.

Branded discounters, for example, only achieved an increase of just under five percent.

This means shops like Netto or Penny.

Aldi and Lidl, on the other hand, are considered to be so-called hard discounters and are not included in the IRI data.

However, surveys by other institutes show that they too lag behind the development of supermarkets and consumer markets.

The big losers in the Corona year are the drugstores.

Although FMCG sales were almost nine percent higher, DM, Rossmann, Müller and Co. only achieved 0.3 percent growth.

"Their most important ranges are cosmetics and body care," explains study author Nilius.

However, these product groups would have stagnated at best.

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“Overall, one can say: function over beauty.

While soaps and hand creams have gained significantly and hair dyes have also increased due to the closed hairdressers, consumers have saved on the cosmetic product groups, especially since they have lost relevance due to the absence of out-of-home activities and vacations. "

Declines in supply purchases compared to 2020

For example, sales of deodorant, face cream, lip care, shaving products, manicure / pedicure products, hairstyling and perfume, as well as sun and insect repellent, were weak.

Some of them are even on the list of those products that lost the most sales in 2020.

The development in the coming months will be exciting.

Because there were really big jumps in 2020 from the first week of March.

From then on, the purchases of food and hygiene articles will run against the strong figures of the previous year.

“The level of 2019 is likely to be significantly exceeded, but there could be declines compared to 2020,” Nilius suspects.

Source: WORLD infographic

In the first seven weeks, there was still an increase, in some cases in the double-digit percentage range.

But not with toilet paper.

According to the IRI statistics, this category has even lost almost six percent in the year to date.

“This means that stocks that were created in October or shortly before Christmas are still being used up,” says Nilius.

A report in the “Lebensmittelzeitung” also fits this, according to which several hygiene paper manufacturers in this country are now considering short-time work.

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