Preface
In light of all the shelter-in-place orders being implemented—and consequently having more time on my hands—I decided to see how Amazon Pantry shoppers were responding with their purchases.
By now, you’ve all likely heard of the rage over toilet paper. I wanted to see if this phenomenon held true in the online market and specifically so on the platform that many consumers turn to when they no longer want to leave their houses to shop: Amazon.
This was not as scientifically-sound as I wanted it to be for various reasons including the fact that I didn’t have access to the hourly data. What I did have access to, however, was the website’s listing of the best selling items on the Amazon Pantry that was updated hourly, a spreadsheet, and time freed up by a conceptual version of Spring Break (time feels irrelevant when stuck at home). I tracked the top 30 selling items three times a day in search of patterns. I also noted down both when states announced and implemented their shelter-in-place orders since I figured folks would react to these announcements before the actual order was set in place. Because March 27th featured a surge in toilet paper and wipe purchases, I opted to include two relatively major events that happened that day as potential sources of this surge. (Or perhaps people’s supplies were just running low that day.) I’d like to point out that many other events happened on other days—they were just not included in this graphic because no other day really had this great of a surge of beloved toilet paper and wipes.
A word of caution
If I picked up on anything from Berkeley’s wonderful Data 8 course—which I highly recommend—it is that these trends are not necessarily caused by the shelter-in-place orders. There are so many external factors that I did not control for in my meager spreadsheet or with linear regression and this was some serious convenience-sampling. These are simply entertaining facts about what’s topping the charts on certain days to see if stories could be created out of the patterns. I also am not endorsing Amazon and actually instead urge you to see how Amazon is treating their workers in response to the pandemic.
An overview.
More quick fun facts about what was on the charts
Not a single day passed by without these items being on the charts:
Slim Jim
Bounty Paper Towels
Nestle Water: at least one of the sizes was always within the top 20
Cheez-Its: either family size or a variety pack
At least one type of bean: baked, refried, green, chili
Most interesting items:
Bona Hardwood Floor Polish: 6 days
Pacon Art Construction Paper: 2 days
TP variations (I never knew there were so many types of TP!):
Ultra Strong
Ultra Soft
Ultra Gentle
Ultra ComfortCare©
Rapid-Dissolving
Products that appeared on the top 30 later than I expected:
Disinfecting wipes: 3/27
Pop Tarts: 3/29
Mott’s Fruit Snacks: 3/30
Products that appeared on the top 30 less frequently than I expected:
Maruchan Ramen: 3 days
Hand soap: 2 days
Cereal: 1 day
By Anne Wong