I imagine you can guess what items have been very popular during our lockdown/quarantine. A lot of us gravitated toward comfort items, and with good reason. But it's the kind of comfort we were looking for that fascinated me.

Ibotta is a technology company in Denver with an app that allows people to earn cash-back on items they purchase with the Ibotta app. It also gave them a lot of insight into what Americans were spending their money on in 2020.

The item which people purchased more than any other was - - spirits. That's right, booze, hooch, juice, liquid courage. This category did not include wine, however. Wine, was much lower on the list, in 8th place, which only means that I didn't purchase nearly as much as I thought.

Bakery items were second on the list of most purchased items. So, not only were people making and baking bread, but they were also buying it, along with doughnuts, croissants, and cakes. This category, strangely, did not include cookies. They showed up in 13th place along with other snacks and chips.

Here is the complete list of items people were buying more of during the pandemic:

  1. Spirits
  2. Bakery items
  3. Meat poultry & seafood
  4. Condiments, sauces, & seasonings
  5. Deli Products
  6. Beauty & Grooming
  7. Canned goods & soup
  8. Wine - 12%
  9. Frozen Foods - 12%
  10. Health & Wellness Products - up 10%
  11. Beverages - 9%
  12. Dairy - up 9%
  13. Snacks, cookies & chips - up 7%
  14. Household Essentials - up 7%
  15. Produce - up 6%
  16. Candy - 4%

Not surprisingly the apparel market saw deep declines between last year and now (during the same time period). Probably because the longer you end up working at home, the less you care about wearing anything that isn't outright comfy.

Sweatpants and snuggies have become the wardrobe of choice for many who ended up working remotely. That is for those who made the choice to wear pants!

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