Toilet Paper To Hair Clippers: American Buying Patterns Shift During Coronavirus Shutdown

Topline: As many Americans hit the one month marker of self-quarantine in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, retailers are reporting a shift in what customers are buying, from food and toilet paper to grooming items like hair clippers and hair dye.

• According to Nielsen data, hair clipper sales rose by 166% last week and at-home hair color increased 23% over the same time frame from the previous year. 
• It’s a trend that Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has observed, he told The Today Show Friday, saying that Walmart has seen an increase in demand for hair clippers and hair color, while goods like toilet paper and paper towels are still flying off the shelves.
• According to an analysis from Thinknum, board games and jigsaw puzzles saw a spike in Amazon sales from late January to mid March, with Hasbro-owned games like Sorry, Jenga, Connect 4 and Clue proving particularly popular—Hasbro CEO Brian Golder confirmed to CNBC last month that the company had seen strong demand since the coronavirus pandemic began.
• In the first week of March, when many Americans began to prepare for a rise in coronavirus cases, hand sanitizer sales jumped 470% compared to the previous year, while aerosol disinfectants rose 385%, according to Nielsen data.
• Nielsen reported that in the second week of March toilet paper, facial tissue and paper towels all saw sales spikes in the triple digits, while aerosol disinfectant sales continued to skyrocket, up to 519% more than the previous year.
• During the last two weeks of March, many Americans turned to baking, as baking yeast sales were up 647% and 457%, respectively, over the same period last year.

Crucial quote: “You can definitely see that as people have stayed home, their focus has shifted. It started out with food and consumables, then it moved to things like puzzles and games, things to entertain kids and educate children you would guess,” McMillon told The Today Show. “Lately, we’ve seen more grooming products. People are starting to need a haircut, so you start to see more beard trimmers and hair color and things like that. It’s interesting to watch the dynamic play out.”

Tangent: Americans can help make sure their neighbors have access to groceries by purchasing those goods week to week instead of stocking up so others have a change to get what they need, McMillon said Friday.

Key background: According to The Today Show, Walmart is the world’s largest private-sector employer. Since March 19, McMillon said that the company has hired more than 100,000 new employees. Two employees in a Chicago-area Walmart store have died after becoming infected with coronavirus, leading the family of one to file a wrongful death lawsuit. As of Saturday afternoon, the U.S. had more than 500,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and had reported nearly 19,000 deaths.

Interesting fact: McMillon said that in the past five days alone, Walmart has sold enough toilet paper for every American to have their own roll—according to Census.gov, that would be nearly 330 million rolls.

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