My quarantine chronicle and 10 habits that fall under the global market trends.
I have been researching articles on coronavirus and how it has been affecting our shopping habits and -Gosh!- I found myself and my family in many of the stats!
At the beginning of the lockdown, our TV set started malfunctioning. We didn't wait for it to die; spending the quarantine without TV was unimaginable. So we contributed to the growing sales of consumer electronics and got ourselves a new TV. Of course we ordered it online.
E-commerce was no stranger to our family, but now we use it for practically everything, including groceries. That means that we compromised our ecological beliefs big time by ordering more packaged goods than before. I am reading that consumer demand for packaged goods has skyrocketed and that coronavirus has refueled the food packaging debate. Is plastic vital for protecting food from germs and extending its shelf life or is it a carrier of harmful bacteria as well as unsustainable? Only the future will tell...
After the first few days of pantry stocking, I thought I would get a little bit creative in the kitchen, something I used to do before I had my daughter. Now that she's old enough to want to try different tastes, I turned to social media for inspiration and cooked Chinese, Mexican and Thai. I even started making my own bread and pizza dough again and soon realized that I wasn’t alone in that: I couldn't find any dry or fresh yeast in the supermarkets for three times in a row! Indeed, baking products are in great demand.
Other than exotic food, there are two other things that helped me cope with stress: a couple of glasses of wine every evening with dinner and spending as much time as I could in my balcony, even when it was cold. This year I tended to my plants earlier than before. I guess a lot of people have found comfort in the exact same things, as gardening supplies and alcohol sales are up - fellow wine lovers, let's try to keep it under control!
During the lockdown, another thing that saw its sales increase was sporting gear. Not for me though. My vanity has gone out of the window and I have been walking and cycling with my old scruffy sweatpants. The only “vain” thing I did was dying my hair on my own for the first time and that was when I couldn't stand seeing all the white roots in the mirror anymore. I got my hair dye through the grocery channel which has captured a greater share of beauty sales; with hair and beauty salons closed in many countries.
If there is someone happy with the quarantine in our house, that is Maggie, our six-month-old dog. I guess all pets around the world are happy to spend so much time with their owners who now stay at home; and pet owners are probably happy too as the growing sales of pet supplies prove
Now that the weather is getting better, I have summer on my mind ALL the time, but it is still uncertain if and when people will be able to go on holidays - or if they will be willing to do so, with all the new regulations that will be in place when travel limitations cease. The tourism industry all over the world has taken a big hit. Online providers like TripAdvisor and Airbnb are adjusting by offering virtual experiences such as cooking classes and sight-seeing tours. I don't know yet if I will try any of these, but I definitely need to squeeze in my balcony an umbrella, a sunbed and a tiny swimming pool!
Reporting for Lazy snail,
Christina Apostolidi
I have been researching articles on coronavirus and how it has been affecting our shopping habits and -Gosh!- I found myself and my family in many of the stats!
At the beginning of the lockdown, our TV set started malfunctioning. We didn't wait for it to die; spending the quarantine without TV was unimaginable. So we contributed to the growing sales of consumer electronics and got ourselves a new TV. Of course we ordered it online.
E-commerce was no stranger to our family, but now we use it for practically everything, including groceries. That means that we compromised our ecological beliefs big time by ordering more packaged goods than before. I am reading that consumer demand for packaged goods has skyrocketed and that coronavirus has refueled the food packaging debate. Is plastic vital for protecting food from germs and extending its shelf life or is it a carrier of harmful bacteria as well as unsustainable? Only the future will tell...
After the first few days of pantry stocking, I thought I would get a little bit creative in the kitchen, something I used to do before I had my daughter. Now that she's old enough to want to try different tastes, I turned to social media for inspiration and cooked Chinese, Mexican and Thai. I even started making my own bread and pizza dough again and soon realized that I wasn’t alone in that: I couldn't find any dry or fresh yeast in the supermarkets for three times in a row! Indeed, baking products are in great demand.
Other than exotic food, there are two other things that helped me cope with stress: a couple of glasses of wine every evening with dinner and spending as much time as I could in my balcony, even when it was cold. This year I tended to my plants earlier than before. I guess a lot of people have found comfort in the exact same things, as gardening supplies and alcohol sales are up - fellow wine lovers, let's try to keep it under control!
During the lockdown, another thing that saw its sales increase was sporting gear. Not for me though. My vanity has gone out of the window and I have been walking and cycling with my old scruffy sweatpants. The only “vain” thing I did was dying my hair on my own for the first time and that was when I couldn't stand seeing all the white roots in the mirror anymore. I got my hair dye through the grocery channel which has captured a greater share of beauty sales; with hair and beauty salons closed in many countries.
If there is someone happy with the quarantine in our house, that is Maggie, our six-month-old dog. I guess all pets around the world are happy to spend so much time with their owners who now stay at home; and pet owners are probably happy too as the growing sales of pet supplies prove
Now that the weather is getting better, I have summer on my mind ALL the time, but it is still uncertain if and when people will be able to go on holidays - or if they will be willing to do so, with all the new regulations that will be in place when travel limitations cease. The tourism industry all over the world has taken a big hit. Online providers like TripAdvisor and Airbnb are adjusting by offering virtual experiences such as cooking classes and sight-seeing tours. I don't know yet if I will try any of these, but I definitely need to squeeze in my balcony an umbrella, a sunbed and a tiny swimming pool!
Reporting for Lazy snail,
Christina Apostolidi