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The coronavirus outbreak caused the turnovers of flower, frozen vegetables, and other preserves to more than double in Dutch supermarkets in March 2020. Pasta, baby food, sugar, cereals, and fruit conserves all enjoyed a revenue increase of over 75 percent. Of all food products, starch and baking mixes saw the most dramatic upturn, with a turnover amounting to more than 260 percent of the starch turnover in week 12 of 2019. Similarly, rice turnover almost tripled in week 11. This dramatic increase was caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the Netherlands.

Turnover and sales progression as a result of COVID-19

These turnover figures are part of a data set showing the impact of COVID-19 on supermarket turnover in the Netherlands. Transactional data of major Dutch supermarkets was collected by the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) and analyzed per product group. Market researcher Nielsen gathered similar data for week nine of 2020, when rice had a relatively modest sales increase of 46 percent. However, as both research agencies used slightly different data collection methods, caution is advised when it comes to comparing their numbers. Nonetheless, the two data sets indicate that the food stockpiling trend set in motion in week 9 of 2020 intensified strongly in weeks 11 and 12.

COVID-19 and consumer behavior

Purchasing highly conservable food products and hygiene or cleaning products in bulk was a common practice in March 2020. As consumers anticipated either self-isolation or a lack of supplies in supermarkets, hoarding food and hygiene products functioned to restock the “pandemic pantry”. The increasing number of infections catalyzed this change in consumer behavior. Although public life in the Netherlands was still relatively unrestrained, European countries such as France and Spain at that time were on the verge of a lockdown. The apprehension of such a lockdown of society likely caused consumers to stock up on food supplies.