Sales of baking goods and alcohol soar amid coronavirus lockdown as beauty products and flowers fall out of favour

Items in the home baking aisle have soared in the last week as people stay home during the coronavirus lockdown
REUTERS
Imogen Braddick21 April 2020

Sales of baking ingredients, frozen vegetables and alcohol are rising amid the coronavirus lockdown, while fewer people are buying beauty products and flowers, new analysis shows.

The fastest-growing category in the UK last week was baking goods, up 49.3 per cent, followed by canned meat and sausages, according to market analysts IRI.

Sales of alcohol and packaged foods were up more than 14 per cent, while cosmetics sales dropped by a third, newspapers by a quarter and toothbrushes and toothpaste by just over 10 per cent.

"Since the initial stockpiling and as social distancing restrictions limit retailers’ capacity to service many more customers in stores, the UK market has begun to adjust to the new ‘lockdown norm’ and we see grocery sales begin to stabilise," Tim Dummer, the commercial director of IRI, which tracks sales at major grocery chains including supermarkets, told the Guardian.

London panic buying during the Coronavirus outbreak - In pictures

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"UK shoppers continue to shop less frequently but spend much more each time. In some retailers we have seen [the amount spent on each visit] nearly double compared with previous-year levels."

In the baking aisle, sales of butter and margarine jumped 28.1 per cent, along with milk - by 22.8 per cent - and eggs - by 18.9 per cent.

With garden centres and DIY stores closed, sales of plants and flowers fell by 62.4 per cent.

Purchases of food and products for our pets and babies also dropped last week - pet food sales by 12.2 per cent, and baby food by 29.2 per cent.

A woman walks past empty shelves as they shop at Sainsbury's in Northwich
Getty Images

Soft drinks sales were also down 5.7 per cent and confectionery sales were only up 0.5 per cent.

But in the alcohol aisle, sales of beer and cider were up 32.4 per cent and 29.5 per cent, respectively, and sales of wine rose by a smaller margin, up 10 per cent.

Analysts said vitamins, supplements, probiotics and other immune-boosting products have been in high demand, with sales up 14.5 per cent last week.

Also soaring are sales of deodorant and personal washing products, which rose by 30.7 per cent last week, along with cleaning products, which went up by 39.9 per cent.

While dry pasta was one of the earlier items people were panic buying, anecdotal evidence shows that lasagne sheets remain on the shelf, the IRI says.

"Over time, shoppers have branched out into areas such as canned meats, beans and home baking," it said.

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