What goods are most often ordered online by Ukrainians during the war

It turned out that Ukrainians save money, buy promotional goods and stock up on groceries and drinking water.

From March to May 2022, the share of orders among all categories for this group of goods is 20.8%, while for the same period in 2021 it was 17.8%.

This trend is not surprising, because many Ukrainians in times of crisis are stocking up on nutritious and necessary long-term storage products.

In addition, it is worth noting that the demand for the category of promotional goods increased very noticeably - by 4.5% . In the spring last year, this category had a demand rate of 0.2%, while now it has grown to 4.7%. We associate such changes with a drop in the level of incomes of the population due to the war. Ukrainians save money, because they began to buy goods with discounts more often.

We also note an increase in demand for the following product groups: fish and seafood - by 3.5%, pet products - by 3%, water and drinks - by 2.2%, sweets, snacks and confectionery - by 1.2%, goods for children - by 0.4%.

At the same time, during the war, the demand for vegetables and fruits fell the most . It should be noted that over the past years in the basket of buyers, on the contrary, goods of the “fresh” category more often prevailed. The dynamics of demand for these goods was constantly growing and in 2021 amounted to 17.4%. Based on last year's sales, bananas confidently ranked first in this segment, potatoes second, tomatoes third, cucumbers fourth and apples fifth. Avocados were also actively gaining popularity, buying more than 14% of service users. However, during the war, the demand for vegetables and fruits declined greatly - by 8.2% and now amounts to only 9.7% of the sales of all goods.

The decrease in demand for vegetables and fruits was provoked by a significant increase in prices for products in this category. It is known, after all, that a large percentage of these goods on the shelves of domestic stores came from foreign suppliers. In conditions of a closed sky and blocked ports due to the war, imports can only be made by trucks from the EU, and not by sea. Therefore, due to difficulties with logistics, the prices for these products have jumped significantly, - comments Evgeny Netreba, commercial director of the company.

Demand for the following categories of goods also fell: dairy products, eggs and cottage cheese - by 3.1%; meat and sausage products - by 2.6%; stationery, household goods, cooking - by 5.6%, frozen food - by 0.2%; personal hygiene products and household chemicals - by 0.9%; alcohol and tobacco products - by 1%.

It should be noted that the temporary drop in sales of alcoholic products was provoked by the adoption of a ban and restriction of alcohol sales by the Ukrainian government. At the same time, during the war, the demand for tobacco products skyrocketed. Therefore, taking into account these factors, the overall demand for this category fell by a negligible amount.

Popular items in check

If we talk about filling the consumer basket during martial law in Ukraine, it does not differ significantly from peacetime.

According to the Zakaz.ua grocery delivery service, in 2021 Ukrainian supermarkets most often ordered home bread, water, milk, juice, chicken meat, eggs, potatoes and bananas. These products were found in more than 50% of the baskets of online shoppers of the service. During the state of war, almost all of these items, except for potatoes and juice, were preserved and are often found on the buyer's check. However, the following goods appeared additionally: buckwheat, sour cream, butter, sugar, salt and pasta.

It should be noted that the hype for salt is temporary and was provoked in this period against the background of the news about the cessation of the work of the Artyomsol enterprise. At the end of May, orders were recorded from customers from insignificant 5 packs of salt to a weight of more than one and a half tons. The product was quickly sold out and swept from all supermarket shelves within a week.

However, salt from expensive producers remained in the assortment.