Poles are rushing to buy necessities such as food, water and toilet paper, according to data from Nielsen Connect, which analyzed the purchases of Poles in the last week of February after the first case of coronavirus infection was confirmed in the country.
According to their data, Poles “threw themselves” at shops and purchased fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), such as toiletries, foods, beverages, which have seen a 17 percent increase in sales.
The report pointed out that close to 480,000 units of hand sanitizers were also sold in that period. The sales of toiletries also increased compared to the week prior, including soap by 66 percent and toilet paper by 24 percent.
Poles also purchased much more dry food products, with flour seeing an 84 percent increase in sales, rice a 95 percent increase, and pasta a 65 percent increase.
Nielsen reported that the sales of necessities online increased three-fold as well.
According to Karolina Zajdel-Pawlak, the managing director of Nielsen Connect in Poland, the uncertainty due to the current health situation heavily impacted consumer behavior.
She explained that although Poles follow sanitary procedures, they overreact by stockpiling necessities.
“The rise of awareness and higher need for hygiene products is certainly a good sign, but it is important to keep calm,” she said.
According to Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, shops themselves are approaching the issue with calm, as there is no shortage of desired products, and they are being regularly supplied. Lines may be longer than usual, however.
The paper reported that supermarket chains are preparing plans in case they are required to shut down some of their logistics centers to maintain supplies to stores.
Shopping baskets and carts in shops are being disinfected more often and employees have undergone extra training.
