Coronavirus shopping frenzy: Croatians spend 300m more than last year

(Foto: FAH)

ZAGREB, March 20 (Hina) – Between 24 February and 15 March, during the coronavirus outbreak, Croatians spent HRK 300 million (€40m) more on food, beverages, personal hygiene and chemicals than at the same time last year, the GfK market research agency says.

Analysing 20 million shopping baskets, or ranges of products sold in the reported period, GfK found that Croatians mostly bought salt, frozen ready-to-eat meals, tinned meat and fish, wine and spirits.

The list of 20 products with the highest increases in sales is topped by salt, with a sales increase of 290%. Flour and yeast, which, along with toilet paper, have become synonymous with “coronavirus shopping”, ranked 6th and 7th respectively, soap ranked 20th and toilet paper was 31st among 130 products analysed.

In the first three weeks of coronavirus shopping frenzy, wine and spirits sold better than soap. Delicatessen salads, rice, tinned fruit and vegetables, sugar, creams and lotions, cakes and toilet cleaning agents also recorded excellent sales.

On the other hand, fish delicatessen and hair removers topped the list of 20 products that recorded the sharpest drops in sales in the first three weeks of the coronavirus epidemic. Frozen fruit, fresh bakery products, sparkling water drinks, beer and boxes of chocolates also sold less.

Online sales increased by as much as 51%, while farm produce markets saw their sales decline by 8%. Bakeries and small retail shops also saw their market shares shrink.

The retail chains Konzum Super, Konzum Klik, Plodine, Spar, Tommy, dm and Bipa increased their market shares during the reported period.

The survey showed that shoppers aged below 34 did not spend a penny more than they normally do, those aged 35-40 slightly increased their spending, while those above 45 spent considerably more.