Our spending habits change in hibernation

New TV sets are selling like hot cakes even as the economy is feeling the pinch from the coronavirus shutdown.

Retravision store manager Lorrelle Goodwin has seen a rise in TV sales. Picture: Colin Murty

Australians being stuck at home under social-distancing lockdown rules is playing havoc with shopping, putting some retailers under intense pressure, but others are getting a boost.

One item, new TV sets, usually associated with times of rising household wealth, are selling like hot cakes even as the economy is feeling the pinch from the coronavirus shutdown.

Retravision general manager Glen Mortimer said his business was also seeing a huge wave of spending across office staples of PCs and printers, and computer screens were also in strong demand for gaming.

“It’s definitely up, very solid from the day the lockdown started,” Mr Mortimer said.

“People started panic-buying things like chest freezers and upright freezers, within days we were completely sold out, and all supply chain was completely sold out as well.”

He said the Perth-based retailer had seen a total clean-out of breadmakers, one of the unusual must-haves of the viral pandemic lockdown.

“We sold out of every breadmaker in the business, rice cookers, slow cookers,” he said.

“In times like this people feel safe in their home and that European vacation might have now become renovating the kitchen or upgrading the oven. That holiday money is now coming across into a different channel.”

Research by the Commonwealth Bank showed spending on clothing, transport and personal care had collapsed in the week leading up to April 10, with beauty products down 61 per cent on last year.

But that was partly countered by spending on fridges, freezers, and home office items which are up 10 per cent on last year.

Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey said TVs, fridges, and coffee-makers were all selling well, adding to bumper sales of freezers when panic-buying began, and air-purifiers when bushfires gripped the nation.

“It’s not a surprise, people are at home, what are the things they most want?” Mr Harvey said.

But surprisingly one area where sales were soft is cooking. “Cooking is slow, our cooking (appliance) sales are actually down”.

Mr Harvey said he found the poor performance of cooking products confusing in a time of home-cooked meals.

“The only thing you might think is the cooking, everyone’s at home cooking, why wouldn’t they upgrade their cooker?”

QUT Business School Professor Garry Mortimer said despite challenging business conditions there were clearly some rays of sunshine in an otherwise bleak landscape.

“People are not buying fashion, footwear and clothing despite it being readily available online,” he said. “The television sets surprise me, I can’t see a rationale for buying it, most people already have a TV set and if jobs were being lost you wouldn’t go out and buy one.”

He said spending habits reflected a view that Australians think they’ll be locked in lockdown for the long haul.

“People have said there’s nothing else to do, so I’ll buy a book, or do those hobbies and crafts, toy soldiers, jigsaw puzzles,” he said.

“You can see where the spending will occur, if you can’t go to a gym you’ll buy some exercise equipment, If you can’t go to a cafe you’ll buy a coffee machine.”