Press release No. 112 of 25 March 2020
WIESBADEN – In the coronavirus crisis, retailers face an unchecked demand for specific convenience goods. A special evaluation of experimental data by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) shows that the sales figures of selected products reached extremely high levels in the week from 16 to 22 March and in the three weeks before. The demand for soap, for example, was four times as high in the 12th calendar week as in the six preceding months (+337%), while the demand for toilet tissue was three times higher (+211%).
Sales of selected food and sanitary products doubled at the end of February already
The sales figures of the food and sanitary products selected soared for the first time in the last week of February (ninth calendar week from 24 February to 1 March). That week the sales figures of flour (+150%), soap (+122%) and pasta (+109%) were already more than twice the average of the six months before. Then the demand for pasta gradually declined until the 12th calendar week, presumably also due to the fact that products of that segment were temporarily not available.
Demand for disinfectants briefly eight times higher than usual
In the first week of March (10th calendar week from 2 to 8 March), the demand for disinfectants rose to a level that was eight times the average of the preceding half-year (+751%). In the following two weeks, sales dropped enormously to only half of normal sales in the 12th calendar week. In fact, the product was more or less sold out temporarily.
According to politicians and business associations, the supply of convenience goods is guaranteed; they urge the population to refrain from panic buying.
| Product | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soap | 122 | 153 | 235 | 337 |
| Toilet tissue | 56 | 99 | 131 | 211 |
| Pasta | 109 | 150 | 140 | 117 |
| Flour | 150 | 99 | 192 | 105 |
| Sugar | 76 | 39 | 101 | 100 |
| Rice | 206 | 41 | 163 | 208 |
| Disinfectants | 659 | 751 | 206 | -49 |
| Apples | 46 | 13 | 65 | 42 |
| Beer | -9 | -9 | -4 | -5 |
| Strained tomatoes | 106 | 88 | 205 | 171 |
| Yeast | 96 | 51 | 132 | 52 |
Methodological note:
The data are based on new data sources and methods. Digital point-of-sale data, also referred to as scanner data, were evaluated for this purpose. Evaluations of this kind are experimental in character and form part of a project on "Experimental data", which is undertaken by the Federal Statistical Office to test new data sources and methods. Selected project results are available at www.destatis.de/exdat.
