Beautiful, but with bad breath: Coles, Woolworths and Myer reveal the surprising change in Australians’ spending habits during the coronavirus lockdown
- Supermarket giants revealed the surprising change in Australians’ spending
- Australians are now buying more at-home beauty and skincare products
- But they have stopped buying everyday items such as chewing gum and mints
- Department store Myer said there is a 520 per cent increase in beauty products
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Australians have turned into a nation of beauty-obsessed, wannabe chefs with little care for how their breath smells if spending habits during the coronavirus lockdown are anything to go by.
Coles, Woolworths and Myer have revealed the surprising change in spending habits adopted by Australians as the country has been in a partial lockdown since March.
During that time toilet paper and dried pasta has flown off shelves.
Supermarket giant Coles reported an increase in purchases of at-home products such as hair colour, but a downturn in some everyday items.
Coles, Woolworths and Myer (pictured on Bourke Street, Melbourne) have revealed the surprising change in spending habits adopted by Australians
The shopping habits of Australians have been revealed by supermarket giant Coles (shoppers pictured)
‘As customers increasingly work from home, we are seeing less demand for packaged salads, while social distancing has led to a downturn in sales of gums and mints,’ a Coles spokeswoman said.
Australians may care less about their breath but they are not neglecting their faces despite beauticians and spas being shut down.
Department store Myer, which closed its physical doors on March 27 and won’t reopen until May, reports a 520 per cent increase year-on-year in beauty product sales and a whopping 600 per cent rise in skincare purchases.
Online cosmetic store Adore Beauty has seen a 61.2 per cent increase in the sale of face masks in the past month and 62.7 per cent in exfoliators.
Australians are pampering themselves in comfort during the pandemic, with online retailer The Iconic recording an 800 per cent surge in slipper sales in two weeks.
Myer also reported homeware sales were up 260 per cent compared with April 2019, showing the coronavirus may have created a nation of interior designers.
Supermarket giant Coles reported an increase in purchases of at-home products such as hair colour (left) and skincare (right)
People are also cooking up a storm with cafes and restaurants closed.
Myer had a 170.9 per cent year-on-year rise in entertainment sales driven by cooking appliances, with some of the best performing products being coffee machines and mixers.
Coles has seen a rise in purchases of vegetable, such potatoes, onions and carrots, while larger volumes of broccoli, lettuce and cabbage are being grown.
Coles has seen a rise in purchases of vegetable, such potatoes, onions and carrots, while larger volumes of broccoli, lettuce and cabbage are being grown
Woolworths said after disinfectants, bread mix was the second most popular purchase, with demand growing by 88 per cent between March 18 and April 14.
The supermarket chain also saw sales of dried herbs and spices rise by more than 70 per cent, dried soup mixes more than doubling.
And Woolworths recorded a 1000 per cent rise in demand for hand sanitiser compared with this time last year.
Consumer group Choice said the results of individual retailers were seen across the country and overall, Australians were buying up on coffee machines, benchtop cookers and renovation-style content, as well as printers and antivirus software as more people worked from home.
Myer had a 170.9 per cent year-on-year rise in entertainment sales driven by cooking appliances, with some of the best performing products being coffee machines (left) while everyone is staying comfortable in isolation with slippers (right)