Jigsaws, Free Weights And Vibrators: All The Things People Bought In Lockdown

It’s been six whole months since Boris Johnson first announced that the nation was going into lockdown. Overnight we stopped going to work, we stopped going to school and even chatting to a friend from the other end of a park bench was banned. Pubs, restaurants and gyms were all closed, and there was a queue to get into the supermarket as panic-buyers cleared out the shelves and stores had to find new ways to ensure people could shop safely, at a distance from each other.

Obviously this blew our normal shopping and spending habits out of the water. With no work, or socialising to get dressed up for, buying a pair of heels or a smart dress seemed pointless. We were 'advised again’ using public transport, which meant if you were without a car, your options for getting anywhere that was further away than you could walk were severely curtailed. And from a nation of restaurant and pub goers - before lockdown the average consumer spent around £70 on a night out, according to the nightclub and bar operator The Deltic Group - we became a nation of Deliveroo and meal kit devotees. Here’s what the nation mostly bought in lockdown…

Birkenstocks

Obviously, if you’re only leaving the house to go to the garden or the shop at the end of the road, a pair of insanely comfy sandals you can slip on that look pretty cool with 90% of your wardrobe are going to be a thing. Enter: the Birkenstock. The brand’s Arizona sandal topped Lyst’s ‘hot index for Q2 as the ‘world’s hottest product.’

Jigsaws

Well what else are you going to do when you’ve finally finished watching the Sopranos (jk, it everyone knows it actually takes 3.5 lockdowns to get through all of the Sopranos)? Jigsaws had an (actually not very surprising) revival mid lockdown: in May the Guardian reported that Gibsons, one of the UK’s leading jigsaw companies, reports a year-on-year sales increase of 132%. “We’re doing Christmas-level sales,” said marketing manager Samantha Goodburn. “We’re doing our best to print out as many as we can and get them out to people who need them.” At the same time, John Lewis reported that its puzzles were almost sold out.

Tie Dye

In April we reported that Tie Dye was emerging as the first lockdown fashion trend, with tie-dye images taking over your Insta feed, while Free People reported sales of their Tie Dye products surging. Joy-making fashion for dark times.

Vitamin C

Strong white flour

Flour sales were up 92% in the four weeks leading to lockdown, and in April it was reported that mills were working ‘around the clock’ to meet increased demand. Clearly that’s because every single person in the country made three banana breads in lockdown.

Free weights

Home gym equipment sales spiked by almost 6000% between lockdown and July, with sales of weights increasing 1700%. A massive 70% of gym goers ditched their gym membership during lockdown, but with trainers one of the biggest purchases made, it also looks like a good proportion of people were using lockdown as an opportunity to start running or exercising in different ways.

Alcohol delivery services

Obviously it didn’t take long into lockdown before searches for‘alcohol delivery services’ started to spike. Helped of course by Stanley Tucci’s now-iconic recounting of his lockdown life in London with his wife Felicity Blunt and children. His prodigious negroni consumption also led to a spike in searches for how to make the cocktail.

Bikes

The UK’s Bicycle association found that sales of bikes grew by 63% during lockdown, with sales strongest for bikes under £1000. With public transport off the cards, many of us started cycling as a way to get from A to B (and to be fair, what else was there to do once you’d finished The Sopranos?)

Vibrators

All around the world, sales of sex toys saw a marked increase during lockdown, with Poundland even getting in on the action and launching a £1 vibrator. According to Julia Margo, the chief operating officer of London-based Hot Octopuss, online sales of its vibrators, which cost from about £40 to £169, increased 35 per cent in April. Since then sales have continued to grow 5 per cent a month, The greatest demand by far has come from older people — defined as the over-55s — with sales to that demographic increasing by 85 per cent.

Hair treatments

After you’d finished the sopranos and gone on a bike ride, what else is there to do? Obviously use a hair mask. John Lewis reported that sales of hair treatments are up 187% compared to this time last year, with Cult Beauty spotting a 337% increase.

Office chairs

What’s the most important thing you need if you’re going to start working from home (ok, decent wifi, but what’s the second most important thing?). In ye olde days of occasionally working from home because you were taking delivery of a new washing machine that day, the answer might have been: enough tea bags to get you through the day and a packet of jammy dodgers. Now we’re all working from home pros, we know that the correct answer is: a decent office chair. Months spent hunched over our laptops on our beds, sofas and kitchen tables, and dozens of remote osteopath appointments later, we’ve all come to this conclusion: sales of office chairs were up 300% over lockdown.