Why did you buy that?
Unearthing the roots of consumer choices in the age of deadly pandemic
Toilet paper. Flour. Gardening supplies.
Over the past two months, consumers have flocked from one hot-ticket item to another even as widespread retail closures and physical distancing measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 has Canadians spending less overall.
The reason for long lines at the grocery store is apparent — shuttered restaurants means pantries need restocking faster — but it’s less obvious why a viral infection triggers a run on Charmin. But experts say unique spending habits are to be expected at a time when consumers are guided by evolutionary impulse, schedule changes and even boredom.
In the week ending March 14 — about two weeks after Health Minister Patty Hajdu advised Canadians to prepare supplies at home — sales of hand sanitizer, masks and gloves skyrocketed, with sanitizer sales up by 639 per cent, Statistics Canada reported.
Less expected was a sudden run on toilet paper, however, with purchases spiking 241 per cent year over year by midmonth.
“It’s an item without a substitute,” said Jeff Donaldson, a PhD candidate at Carleton University and public policy researcher focusing on emergency preparedness. “From a basic primal human need, of all the things that we don’t want to run out of, it’s toilet paper, because it’s one of those few products that’s required for daily functioning.”
Among the top-selling grocery items were non-perishable staples like pasta, soup and canned vegetables, according to StatCan. And as baked goods started to appear on more social media feeds, flour was highly sought after.
A recent Royal Bank of Canada analysis concluded consumers are spending more on household construction as well as books, music and streaming.
Purchases at construction material, appliance, and furniture stores saw an uptick late last month.
Apparel sales are sagging severely — “tiles, not turtlenecks,” as RBC put it.
But upmarket tops are in demand amid the proliferation of video conferencing, said Michael LeBlanc, a senior adviser at the Retail Council of Canada.
“Maybe it’s time for a nice, bespoke sweater to make me look good on Zoom.”
Spending on home entertainment including books, music and cable and streaming continued to increase in the week of April 21, rising more than 20 per cent above the pre-COVID-19 average, according to RBC.
E-commerce groceries, which accounted for roughly 1.5 per cent of sales in 2019, have shot up to between10 and12 per cent of the total, LeBlanc said.