Our new abnormal; a.k.a. ‘now is the summer of our this-content’

As our COVID-quarantine era slowly relaxes, it’s revelatory to look back at how our consumer behavior and online shopping patterns evolved. One of the most popular e-commerce platforms here would be Lazada, where over 30 million searches a day is a regular occurrence. And when they reported what were the most popular purchases made over the last three months, what online content drove their record sales, it was a mix of the “rather expected,” with more than a number of “eye-popping, scratch your head” surprises.

Just a Spoonful of Sugar – There was a 15x increase in searches related to household and food items, fueled in part by the launch of LazMart, their online grocery. Leading the pack was Tapioca Pearls. Evidently, people really missed their “bespoke,” customized milk tea, and so droves of homemakers would order these pearls – and, I presume, would hunt for the hefty straws. Makes you wonder though, now that they’ve discovered they can concoct the drinks right at home, how will all those retail stands fare when they reopen in force?

Food, Glorious Food – Not much of a surprise, but there was a threefold increase in the market of baking and cooking equipment. Seems like everyone, and their Tita and Tito, were in for a little touch of the home-based entrepreneurial spirit. And this was reflected on all our social media feeds, as the number of food vendors, competing with the established restaurants offering take-out service, mushroomed. Most everyone had some knockout family recipe that was transformed into a home enterprise, a way to diversify the household’s income during lockdown.

The Way You Look Tonight – Here’s something of a surprise. Or is it just that I’m a clueless heterosexual senior? There was a 3x increase in searches related to make-up and cosmetics. Uhhh, that’s nowhere to go during the ECQ; unless you were planning on getting all dolled up for your regular dinner-at-home. And yet, sales of several cosmetic brands enjoyed an upsurge during the quarantine. Hmmm, makes me wonder if we’re going to see a surge of recorded births come December this year, and January, 2021 – all these corona babies.

The Times, They Are A-Changin’ – Leisurewear and loungewear went through the roof, with over 30,000 sets of intimates and pajamas sold during a Lazada Flash Sale. Track suits that would never see a track, sweat pants that would never capture a bead of perspiration – they became the unofficial pandemic fashionconscious outfit. You’d see them in Zoom meetings, when you’d do your supermarket or drugstore run. Or they’d be what you’d find under the PPE’s people would don. For Lazada, it was cash-ual wear (pun intended), all the way to the bank.

All About That Bass – Here’s an eye-opener. As clubs and practically all forms of night life came to a standstill, there was a 7x increase in the purchase of DJ equipment. And this one has me stifling a laugh; as finally, we have the answer to what comes after karaoke. Beatboxing, sampling, scratching, and scrubbing; it looks like everyone now had dreams of becoming the COVID Pandemic DJ of the Year, and I’d be very afraid to hear the efforts of the clear majority. Or perhaps they were all part of leveling up on your TikTok videos!

I’m Still Standing – Yoga Mats! Yup, if you can believe it, there were over 6,000 mats sold during ECQ and MGCQ, and it’s one of the fastest moving items, with no let-up still in sight. Kettlebells and resistance bands were also flying off the shelves. Now, I can’t vouch whether these were purchased on the Road of Good Intentions, destined to lie in dust, and become the most popular of 2020 Christmas gifts; or will be used once or twice, and then given the Marie Kondo treatment in a few months time. Regardless, they spelled “ka-jing” cash register action for Lazada. Fitness was a beast during these COVID days.

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow – 140,000 households bought inflatable pools. So that was one route a lot of families took to beat the summer heat within the confines of their homes. Whether these were actually wise investments with tomorrow in mind, we’ll see come rainy season time, when these inflatable pools will be reactivated as flotation/water transportation devices to combat the “baha.” Now, where was that listing of paddles and oars on Lazada?

I Will Survive – In summation, it looks like retail therapy was one avenue taken by a good number of Filipinos to get through the pandemic quarantine. And poking a little fun at the whole thing, taking a lighthearted and humorous approach to commentary is my own brand of survival. But I would be remiss in not saying that I’m fully cognizant of the fact that for so many more Filipinos, they’ve been stuck in a hand-to-mouth surviving routine, that any form of retail therapy would have been the furthest thing in their minds while negotiating a day-to-day, hard scrabble existence.

So I’m just hoping that as this New Abnormal (for it will be anything but Normal) comes to play, the government will find ways to bolster and support those sectors of our population that desperately need the bolstering – for jobs, for opportunities, for transportation to get to work, to all be prioritized and available.

In my title, I played on Richard III’s “Now is the winter of our discontent” soliloquy; and further on in the soliloquy, Shakespeare writes, “Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.” Let's pray that’s just around the corner.