PAPER GOOD STOCKOUTS

Household toilet paper sales have returned to near pre-pandemic levels during the current Home-Confined period, with an increase of 6% in average daily sales compared to a year ago. Toilet paper stockouts have eased up, with only 31% of stores out stock of stock of this hot commodity for some part of the day as of June 30, 2020–down from 72% at the end of March.

Percent of U.S. grocery stores out of stock for toilet paper up 72% on 3/23/20 and down 31% on 6/30/20.

U.S. shoppers are also more likely to find paper towels on shelves these days than they were in mid-April (when 77% of stores were out of stock for some part of the day). Believe it or not, paper towels are now facing greater stockouts than toilet paper, with more than half of stores out of stock for some part of the day as of June 30, 2020.

With states opening back up, we don’t expect consumers to revisit their extreme TP hoarding behavior any time soon, but we’ll be following the paper goods market closely to keep you updated.

Percent of U.S. Grocery stores out of stock for paper towels up 77% of 4/20/20 and down 51% 6/30/20.