At the start of the pandemic, with stay-at-home orders first hit a wave of panic-buying impacted sales of products such as toilet paper as well as coronavirus-fighting essentials such as hand sanitiser. But the pandemic also saw people stock up on some rather more unexpected things. Click or scroll on to see some more surprising purchases people have been making over the past year...

In the US, sales of yeast spiked by a massive 647% in the week ending 21 March 2020 as people started baking at home, compared to the same week in 2019, according to data from Nielsen. The boom in yeast even continued into the summer months in the US, and sales were up 258.5% in late May compared to the previous year, according to Nielsen data. And with yeast, you often need...

Flour is not only a necessity for making your own bread, but for most home bakes. And so scenes such as this one became increasingly common as bakers across the world depleted supermarket shelves. Sales of flour were up 205% in Italy in March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, according to research by the Co-op supermarket. In the UK, flour mills worked tirelessly to meet demand, which increased by 92% in the four weeks leading up to 22 March 2020 compared to 2019. The high demand led to snags in the supply chain, and the global flour shortage was still notable in May, prompting disused mills to be brought back into action in the UK in June, including a 1,000-year-old mill in Dorset, England.

Another store cupboard essential that had shoppers going crazy was pasta, and in Canada there was a 205% increase in sales in March 2020, according to Canadian Grocer. German supermarket chain Aldi even sent extra freight trains to Italy to pick up additional packets of fusilli, spaghetti and penne in March and April. In the UK, most supermarkets introduced limits on the number of packets of pasta an individual could buy during the first lockdown, and when the country was plunged into stricter measures for Christmas before a third lockdown, some supermarkets reintroduced limits on dried pasta, among other key products, due to fears of panic buying.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic it wasn't just wheat-based staples such as flour that were flying off the shelves, as some panic buyers turned to free-from alternatives, such as gluten-free pasta. In Canada stocks of non-gluten products were quickly depleted, which caused concern that coeliac disease sufferers who can’t eat gluten would be left with limited supplies. A similar trend was seen in Australia as well as in the UK, where there was a 17.6% rise in free-from grocery sales between 18 April and 16 May compared to 2019. Like many of the foods in this round-up, the shopping frenzy for free-from products died down within a couple of weeks.

In Italy, mozzarella became a hot commodity with sales shooting up by 125% in March 2020, according to Co-op data. With sales of flour and yeast also spiking, it’s likely many Italians were making their own pizza and bread during the first lockdown. The situation hasn’t been entirely rosy for the mozzarella market however, as the closure of pizzerias, restaurants and hotels has led to big losses in commercial mozzarella sales over the year, which are down by 40% compared to last year, according to Pier Maria Saccani, president of the Consortium for Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP.

In Spain, olives saw a 93.8% rise in sales when the country’s first lockdown was imposed in March 2020, according to Inforetail magazine. The boom in olives didn’t last for long, but it wasn’t just the raw product that was popular in 2020…

The pandemic has seen everyone cooking at home more, and a boom in cooking condiments has followed. Research by the North American Olive Oil Association recorded a 23.5% increase in olive oil sales in the US, while sales in Italy have been boosted by 22%. In Spain there was a 9% increase in sales across the entire period of January to August compared to 2019, according to the National Association of Edible Oil Bottlers and Refiners (Anierac).

It’s perhaps not surprising that many of us are reaching for comfort foods during these uncertain times, and it wasn’t just around holiday seasons such as Easter and Christmas when sales soared. In Spain, chocolate sales were up by nearly 80% in April according to Inforetail as the country adapted to lockdown. Clinical psychologist Olga Castanyer stated at the time: "You don’t eat steak when you are stressed. What the body wants is sugar and fat. When we are locked up, our brains ask us for a prize: like chocolate, candy or simply beer". There was a similar trend in the US, as chocolate sales in the US spiked by 5.5% between March and September, according to the National Confectioners Association.

It appears that locked-down people reached for the ice cream tub too, with sales up by 76.2% in Spain in April according to Inforetail. In the US, ice cream sales were up 23% in the week beginning 14 March 2020 compared to the same time in 2019, while Unilever saw a 26% increase between the months of April, May and June, with its brands such as Magnum benefitting most from the surge.

Wine sales rose by nearly two-thirds in the US for the week ending 21 March 2020, according to Nielsen data, while sales of rosé in France increased by a much more modest 3.2% between 13 March and 29 March. But in Spain, wine sales jumped a whopping 62.7% when the government first declared a state of lockdown, according to consumer magazine Inforetail. Wine was still the world’s beverage of choice when summer came around, and global sales were up by 17% in July according to Wine-Searcher.com. As the hospitality industry has struggled under ever-changing lockdown restrictions, increased sales through non-business customers will have been a much-needed boost for wine manufacturers in 2020. 

Beer sales were up by 42% in the US according to Nielsen data for the week ending 21 March 2020. But what about the Corona beer brand, which now shares its name with the virus? Around 38% of US beer drinkers reported they would not buy it “under any circumstances” in a 5W Public Relation survey in March but the sales figures tell a different story. The Corona family of beers saw sales up by 50% according to Nielsen data. In the UK Corona was one of the fastest-growing grocery products of the year, as sales jumped by 40% in 2020 – it was second only to San Miguel beer, which saw a 63% increase in sales.

As people turn to tinned foods, the world started stocking up on tuna with global sales having increased in the first six months of 2020. US shoppers were among those hoarding long-life tuna products, with sales up 142% for the week ending 14 March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. The EU saw sales jump by 80% around the same period.

Meanwhile Spaniards started buying more anchovies, with sales of the tinned fish up 60% in March 2020 according to Inforetail. An anchovy factory in Albania owned by Italian company Nettuno, the third biggest anchovy exporter to the EU last year, reported orders increasing by 30% to 34,000 kilos a month in April, with high demand from people in Italy and Spain.

A year ago, snacks store shelves started to look pretty bare as shoppers stocked up on nibbles for lockdown. In the US, potato chip sales increased 30% for the week ending 14 March 2020 compared to 2019, while pretzels were up 47% and popcorn was up by 48%, according to Nielsen data. In the UK, sales went up by 28% during the summer period as Brits bought up food for socially-distanced outdoor picnics, according to Food Manufacture.

As our living rooms have become our offices, many are taking advantage of more relaxed dress codes. Online sales of loungewear items including hoodies, sweatshirts and joggers rose by a whopping 433% in the UK between 24 March and 7 April 2020 according to a report by online marketplace Love The Sales. While in the US, the number of sold-out tracksuits rose from 36% between 1 January and 16 March 2020, compared with the same period in 2019, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. As a return to “normal” seems a way off, the global sleepwear and loungewear market is set to continue to grow considerably in the period between 2020 and 2024, reports MarketWatch. 

That said, some workers are keeping up appearances for online video meetings – at least on the top half. In the US, Walmart reported an increase in sales of tops, while sales of pants fell by 13%, according to Adobe Analytics. In the UK, demand for top-half clothing rose 167% compared to the same time in 2019, while demand for bottoms jumped by just 39%. Working from home has now become the typical set-up for companies across the world, and so the trend for top-half fashion was expected to continue well into the new year.

As hair salons and barber shops closed for long periods of time, many took personal grooming into their own hands. As a result, companies catering to that market have seen a boom, including Indian electrical company Havells, which reported a five-fold increase in sales of beard trimmers in August. And it’s not just India – demand for beard trimmers jumped 138% year-on-year in the UK, and in the US hair clipper sales spiked by 166% in April 2020 compared to 2019 according to Nielsen.

Similarly, at-home hair dye sales were on the up as, unable to go to the hairdresser, people became their own hair stylists. Sales of American brand Madison Reed’s at-home colouring kits rose by an incredible 750%, while Italy witnessed sales of home hair dye kits rise by 135% in March compared to 2019, according to Co-op data. British hair colour brand Knight & Wilson also reported a massive 1,200% increase in sales since the first lockdown began in the UK on 23 March 2020. As salons reopened hair dye sales likely saw a dip, but many may choose to continue with their DIY hair styling habits as an alternative to expensive trips to the salon.

Aussies stocked up on plastic storage containers according to Kmart, perhaps a result of more people turning to cleaning and organising their homes during the pandemic. On a less surprising note, home office equipment sales increased, with sales of office chairs up 13.3% and sales of office desks up 5.1% in the UK in the first week of March 2020, according to The Retail Bulletin.

Bored families are turning to old-fashioned entertainment sources under lockdown, but in Dubai the games trend has taken a topical twist. Shoppers are, perhaps bizarrely, buying pandemic-related board games such as Pandemic and Virus, and retailers across the country reported that they had sold out of both games.

In a similar vein, jigsaw sales were up across the world. Ceaco, one of the largest jigsaw puzzle and game manufacturers in the US, reported a 300% increase in jigsaw sales for the second week of March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. In the UK jigsaw manufacturers reported sales reaching £100 million ($137m) in 2020, up 38% on 2019, while in Australia the sales of a “jigsaw puzzle roll up mat” on Amazon Australia, designed as a non-slip surface for jigsaw puzzling, were up by a massive 14,493% according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 

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While LEGO stores have spent much of the year closed to customers, it seems sales haven’t taken a hit as LEGO fans stocked up online. In the UK, department store John Lewis reported a threefold increase in sales of LEGO in the last two weeks of March 2020. This trend continued throughout the year and across the world, and LEGO saw global sales increase 21% in 2020. CEO Niels Christiansen said the company saw “a very positive development during the coronavirus lockdown”, and in September LEGO announced the opening of 120 new stores, 46 of which were launched in the first half of 2020.

Trying to entertain kids has been challenging under lockdowns – so some parents turned to outdoor toys to keep them amused. Sales of outdoor toys for the garden, including trampolines, basketball hoops and slides, were up 20% in the US for the week ending 21 March 2020, according to research firm the NPD Group.

Unfortunately, coronavirus may be ushering in some unhealthy habits, with sales at French tobacco stores up 30% between 13 March and 29 March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. However, the upsurge may have more to do with people stockpiling tobacco products rather than more people taking up the habit. In fact, by September last year health concerns and financial worries had led to a reduction in these types of sales, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.

In Canada, where the recreational use of marijuana was legalised in 2018, the Ontario Cannabis Store reported that it received almost 3,000 orders on Saturday 14 March 2020 – up 80% compared to a normal Saturday. In August, retail sales of legal cannabis stores were at CA$244.89 million ($191m/£141 million) for the month, an increase of CA$90.81 million ($70.7m/£52.4m) on January's sales, according to Statista. Meanwhile in the Netherlands, reports emerged of huge queues outside coffee shops where cannabis is sold each time that the country was about to go into lockdown.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Americans were pictured queueing outside gun stores across the nation, with the crisis bringing about a record-breaking number of gun sales. More than two million guns were sold in America in March, the highest levels since the FBI started collecting data over 20 years ago. The FBI completed more than 3.7 million background checks in the same month, of which an estimated 2.4 million were completed for gun sales – that’s up by 80% compared to March 2019. Gun sales continued to be high throughout 2020 due to long periods unrest, such as the run-up to the presidential election in November.

As people scrambled to stay active while gyms were shut, there was a surge in demand for home fitness kit. An analysis of debit card spending by Bank of Ireland has shown increased spending on home fitness equipment since 12 March 2020, while in the UK fitness product sales were up 53% on the weekend of 20 March 2020 compared to February, according to analysis by global affiliate network Awin. In Taiwan, one online retailer reported a 30% increase in the sale of weightlifting equipment last year compared to 2019, the Taipei Times reported. And the trend didn't die down – American company Peloton expected delays in deliveries of its high-tech exercise bikes right through until the end of 2020.

Lockdown measures across the world led to an increased interest in gardening, with almost all fruit and vegetable seeds going out of stock on Walmart’s US site. Seed suppliers in Australia and New Zealand were similarly overwhelmed – King Seeds, New Zealand’s largest seed supplier, had to temporarily suspend online orders after business was 10 times higher than usual.

Crafting is cool again, and Australian crafts retailer Lincraft saw “an incredible spike in [sales of] adult craft materials”, as “fabric sales doubled, knitting tripled and craft sales tripled”, according to managing director John Maguire when he spoke to The Age newspaper. Similarly the UK’s Liberty London department store reported that sales of sewing accessories were up 380% for the week ending 22 March 2020 compared to the same week in 2019, and sales of crafts kits were up 228%. With face mask mandates in place across the world, many decided to make their own PPE, which boosted the sewing supplies industry throughout 2020.

The global population has been increasing its literary intake. In 2020 worldwide publishing house Bloomsbury reported its best half-year profits since 2008, with figures jumping 60% from February to August, and British book retailer Waterstones saw a 400% increase in online orders. In Spain, the sale of e-books has risen by 50% according to book distributor Libranda. By October it was still the case that people were reading a lot more frequently than before the pandemic, and print book sales were up by 6.4% for the first nine months of the year, according to NPD BookScan.

Bizarrely, shoppers in Australia have been buying more white towels during the pandemic, with discount store Kmart reporting that it’s struggling to keep them in stock. Some shoppers suggested that shortages of sanitary and baby products could have led to the increased demand for towels, although there’s no clear cause for the increase in demand. The craze for white towels Down Under likely subsided when panic buying died out and the country got a better handle on its COVID-19 outbreak.

Perhaps in a bid to keep themselves company in lockdown, more people have been adopting pets from shelters, with Minnesota Public Radio reporting that people had adopted more than 300 animals prior to shelter closures. Elsewhere in the US, New York, Arizona and California have also seen a boom in pet adoption. As home working looks set to stay for the foreseeable future adopting a pet is still high up on many people’s to-do lists. In fact, the boom in pet ownership has led to a shortage of pouch dog and cat food in the US, which New York's non-profit Animal Medical Center blamed on "the pandemic, increased pet ownership, and major snowstorms have all led to shortages among popular pet food brands".

Providing entertainment for animals and their owners alike, pet toy sales soared during 2020. In the US, online pet retailer Chewy was looking to hire 6,000 to 10,000 new employees in its warehouses to keep up with a spike in orders for pet food and supplies. Keeping furry friends entertained has remained a priority throughout this year, and pet presents are on the top of lots of Christmas lists heading into the festive season. Pet owners spent an average of $90 (£67) on their animal companions for Christmas 2020, according to consulting firm Deloitte.

As people spent more time at home, computer and video game sales increased across the world. Nintendo’s latest edition of its Animal Crossing franchise, titled New Horizons, sold more copies in its first week of launch in the UK than the launch sales of all previous entries in the series put together. Meanwhile in Japan the game sold more than 1.8 million copies in the first three days. In April Rishi Chadha, global head of gaming partnerships at Twitter, wrote: “It’s now the No. 1 most talked-about game in the world”. Even as the weather improved in the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, gamers were still glued to their screens and 14.27 million copies of New Horizons sold between 30 April and 30 September, bringing total sales to 26.04 million units. By November it was on track to become the best-selling Nintendo Switch game of all time.

And consoles have seen a boost too. Nintendo’s share price soared to a 52-week high of 47,000 yen ($453/£340) on 16 April 2020, with the Nintendo Switch console contributing significantly to that success. The Switch console sold out at major retailers in the US and UK, and on Amazon and Walmart’s websites, which allow third-party sellers, the console has been spotted selling at inflated prices – in fact, on Amazon the Nintendo Switch has a minimum mark up of $125 (£100). Nintendo's share price hit 67,850 yen ($624/£455) in mid-December, which was the highest it had been since December 2007. However, it surpassed this on 17 February 2021 when the share price hit 68,610 yen ($631/£460).

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