In an email to customers, Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says that they’ve seen a rise in dried herbs, dried spices and soup mixes - a sure fire sign that Aussies are whipping up stews, soups and casseroles as the weather turns a little cooler.
He also reveals that slow cookers sales at Big W are also up!
Says Mr Banducci: ‘Looking at what customers are buying certainly suggests many people are making the most of their time at home.
‘If we were all bakers going into Easter, now, as winter looms, we are enjoying more warming comfort foods like soups and casseroles. Dried herbs and spices are up by more than 70% with dried soup mixes more than doubling. It’s a trend we’re also seeing at BIG W with kitchen appliances like slow cookers also seeing an uplift.’
He adds: ‘Not surprisingly, home beauty products are also popular right now, with hair colourants up 50% and nail polish and removers up 40%.’
But while panic shopping has eased off in recent weeks, Mr Banducci says toilet paper sales continue to soar - with Australia buying even more than last week.
He writes: ‘The demand surge of a few weeks ago is undoubtedly calming, with many people returning to buying what they need and signs also suggesting that the average Australian household has almost 2 weeks worth of typical pantry items at home.
‘We were able to lift buying limits on more products this week, including paracetamol and ibuprofen (both back to their normal limits of 5 per transaction), cough and cold remedies and body wash.
’The exception to the rule is toilet paper! It’s up to 14.1 million rolls this week, more than last week’s 11.5 million, but not at the highs of 20 million we saw a few weeks ago. It’s likely driven by having much more supply available.
’We have another 500,000 units of hand sanitiser coming in next week but with demand still up more than 1000% year-on-year, supply will still be patchy.’
