Many of the new consumer trends can be attributed to one factor, according to retail specialists: working from home. — AFP pic
Almost overnight, a consumer-driven economy with clearly delineated work and home spending, changed profoundly. Rising demand for certain items, as well as global supply-chain disruptions, has driven up prices. Economists put this apparent discrepancy in behavior down to the fact that many people, unable to spend outside, have more cash in hand. Even many workers on furlough are receiving jobless benefits that match their wages under a federal stimulus plan.
“Brand manufacturers have been fattening their pockets with profits while putting unprecedented pressure on the consumer who has to pay those higher prices,” said Burt Flickinger, retail consultant at Strategic Resource Group. As ketchup, mayonnaise and vinegar sales surged, Kraft Heinz diverted resources to running these production lines around the clock, while suspending others. It added extra shifts for factory workers to make grocery-sized bottles.“If you look at eggs, before they’d be powdered to send to restaurants and now they have to be put in cardboard containers to go to supermarkets,” said Daniel Bachman, senior US economist at Deloitte. “It took a high price to induce the change.