From workout gear to tequila, John Lewis’s lockdown must-haves as middle-class consumers settle into leisurely spending habits
- Spending habits have drastically altered during the coronavirus pandemic
- Initially mass buying of tinned food and toilet paper seems to have given way
- Middle-class consumers are buying cocktail ingredients, exercise equipment and pasta-making machines
- With video applications such as Zoom now hugely popular, swathes of people have admitted to partaking in ‘online drinks’
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
When the lockdown was imposed stores faced a stampede of shoppers desperate for tinned food and toilet paper.
But middle-class consumers have since settled into more leisurely spending habits, with cocktail ingredients, exercise equipment and pasta-making machines enjoying a surge in popularity.
Shopping analysis by John Lewis and Waitrose suggests coronavirus-related fears are still a major concern.
One of the biggest increases in sales has been elastic for making face masks – a massive 1,430 per cent rise compared with last year. At the same time, sales of landline phones rose by 80 per cent amid fears that mobile networks and the internet would be overwhelmed.
But there has been a huge spike in sales of tequila – up 175 per cent – and cocktail liqueurs (78 per cent).
‘With pubs and bars shut, we have seen the rise of the “have-a-go” bartender at home,’ said Waitrose’s John Vine. ‘People are shopping for more unusual ingredients to make that perfect drink for staying in.’
At the beginning of the lockdown, stores struggled to keep up with demand for pasta but many consumers now make their own. Sales of pasta-making machines are up 216 per cent on the same period last year.
Meanwhile, purchases of fitness equipment such as weights are up 496 per cent, yoga and pilates gear by 315 per cent and sports shoes by 72 per cent.
Purchases of cocktail ingredients are surging, with people looking to get creative in the kitchen and participating in drinks sessions on video apps such as Zoom
A survey by the retailers showed many have used video apps such as Zoom for a social life, with 20 per cent saying they have taken part in an online cocktail, drinks or dinner party, 37 per cent in a virtual pub quiz, and one in ten a video date.
Some 48 per cent are speaking more to relatives who do not live with them.
Around 45 per cent are eating more exotic food. Waitrose.com recorded a 53 per cent rise in searches for Japanese dishes, 83 per cent for Thai food, 161 per cent for curry pastes and 125 per cent for Chinese ingredients.
As the weather warmed up, 43 per cent said they have been doing more gardening, with a 2,000 per cent rise in searches for vegetable seeds.