Following the news this morning that both Pets at Home and Gear4Music have announced that full year profits will beat expectations:

Sofie Willmott, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her views:

‘‘Positive news from Pets at Home and Gear4Music demonstrates that despite non-essential spend coming under strain, there are products other than food than shoppers are still buying. With many consumers spending much more time at home, there is a renewed interest in hobbies that will pass the hours such as playing a musical instrument and also those that have been thinking about adding a new pet to their family, will view this as a good time to do it.

Although non-food spend will be severely impacted by COVID-19, retailers must seize the sales opportunities where they can, considering that consumers’ priorities have changed dramatically in just a few weeks. Products to enhance time spent at home such as home office equipment and entertainment items such as game consoles and video games will be of particular interest to shoppers. Similarly, workout equipment, including yoga mats and dumbbells, and at-home hair and beauty treatments will be in demand with consumers focused on wellbeing.”