Anji Clarke, landlady of a 150-year-old pub in north London, noticed big changes to her shopping habits after the UK introduced the first coronavirus lockdown in March.
She switched some of her purchases to “the dreaded Amazon”, became a connoisseur of hand sanitisers and disinfectant wipes, and snapped up flour for baking while stuck at home. “We had an enormous number of cream teas . . . it was terrible for our waistlines but very good for morale,” she says.
Some of the world’s largest companies are now trying to figure out what consumers like Ms Clarke will do next.