According to a Nielsen global survey, consumer behavior in the coronavirus pandemic has six phases. It begins with proactive health-oriented purchases, continues on to reactive health management, before moving to the stockpiling of pantries. Consumers then mirror the levels of enforced restrictions by buying goods that will prepare for life in quarantine, before the fifth phase, which is actual restricted-living shopping and is followed by shopping during the new normal.
Since having the first case of Covid-19 show up on February 25, Croatians have gone through the first four phases of this pandemic shopping cycle. Exactly how this translates into what they fill their shopping baskets with is now becoming clear with new statistics. Overall, the average purchase has risen by almost 20 percent, with sales increasing as the epidemic spread and peaking at the end of February.
Croats then started accumulating supplies and get ready for life in lockdown. In the weeks since March 9, sales were 66% higher than last year. Among the most popular food items, flour was the overall winner, with shoppers buying 4 times as much as they had the previous year. Rice was the next-biggest gainer with a 300 percent increase, followed by cake mixes and past (221 percent up).
