Panic-buying shoppers spent £60million stockpiling products in the first week of March including pasta, shower gel, tissues and £17million extra on toilet roll alone
- Items such as children’s medicine and bath and shower products were on the up
- Figures could have been higher if supermarkets hadn’t run out of some items
- Hoarders have been stock piling items such as toilet roll, pasta and canned meat
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Panic-buying shoppers across the UK are keeping supermarket chains afloat amid the coronavirus crisis after those stock piling supplies shelled out £60 million on products in the first week of march alone.
The most-purchased products included pasta and shower gel, while and additional £17 million was spent on toilet roll alone.
In contrast Britons spent twice as much as the same week a year earlier as they continue to grapple with the possibility of self-isolation.
So far in the UK 137 people have died from the illness and there have been 2,695 confirmed cases.
The graphic above shows the break down of what Britons spent their cash on in the supermarkets
The figure could have been a lot higher if supermarkets had not run out of some essentials such as hand sanitiser, medicines and dried food in the first few days of the corona crisis.
The data, from industry analysts Nielsen Scantrack for trade ‘bible’ The Grocer shows spending on the 12 most popular stockpiling products rose to £124 million in the week ending March 7th, up from £66 million for the same products 12 months earlier.
Sales of children’s medicines rose 124 per cent year on year to £2.5 million in those first seven days of panic and adult analgesics were up 102.5 per cent to £3.6 million.
Sainsbury’s in Northwich, Cheshire, opened early for pensioners today so they could do their shopping before the shelves get ransacked. As shoppers continue to panic buy
Toilet rolls, which have become the signature grocery product of the coronavirus epidemic in this country, saw an 88 per cent rise – or £17.6 million – to go from £20 million to £37.6 million.
Other items on every hoarder’s shopping list include bath and shower products, up 95 per cent, the same as household cleaners, with an extra 91 per cent spent on facial tissues, 91 per cent more on UHT milk and 74 per cent on pasta, for instance.
But this all came before the most recent measures, said The Grocer.
It added: ‘Spend across the 12 most popular stockpiling categories reached £124m in the week ending 7 March 2020, up from £66.6m the year before.
‘That was before the public was advised to avoid unnecessary travel and contact with others, which has prompted a fresh wave of panic buying.’
Supermarkets have since tried to ration sales in some cases or open up early just for the elderly so they can get what they want before the mad rush to fill trolleys full of loo rolls and dried pasta.