Coffee, a necessity to some and an enjoyable beverage for the majority of Australians.
COVID-19 has drastically changed people’s lives.
Some of us have lost our jobs, others have been forced to move back in with their parents. With the stress of the pandemic, our shopping trolley has become less about a big broad list of all the things we want and more about affordability and what we need.
It is safe to say, Australia’s shopping habits have changed.
With the state that the world is in, exhaustion takes a toll and with exhaustion comes coffee. Our need for coffee has always been a top priority but now perhaps more than ever.
The love of coffee has always been strong here in Australia, according to McCrindle more than one in four (27%) Australians indicating they cannot survive the day without a cup of coffee. 9 in 10 (88%) stating that they like coffee to some extent.
Three-quarters of Australians admit to having at least one cup a day. Some have their go-to local coffee shop and some prefer to make theirs from the comfort of their kitchen. But with more of us spending more time at home due to the pandemic, we are attempting to buy only what we need and that has affected where we have our coffee from.
The graph below shows that there has been an increase in consumers purchasing beans by 49% in March 2020 at the beginning of COVID. The increase of beans shows that most of us are enjoying brewing our coffee from home, on top of this there has been a total coffee consumption increase by 37% which proves that with a pandemic comes fatigue with a strong need for caffeine.
Untitled Visualisation
Beautiful, easy data visualization and storytelling
With more of us spending more time at home and our budgeting being more important than ever, our coffee shop habits have changed. Despite coffee shops being open for takeaway during the covid-19 lockdowns, there was a dramatic drop in the café and coffee shop market from 2019 to 2020 due to the pandemic. However, this graph shows that from 2011 to 2018 cafes and coffee shops steadily increased but due to the pandemic the major drop was clear.
Samuel Walsh an avid coffee drinker admits that his coffee habits have changed. “I used to go into work everyday and purchase two coffees a day, however now with more time spent at home I decided to purchase my own coffee machine. It has been a great experience to be making my own cuppa but I do think that the coffee shop industry has been hit hard.”
However, 2021 has so far shown positive signs of an increase in the market size but it has still not reached its peak of the market back in 2018.
Untitled Visualisation
Beautiful, easy data visualization and storytelling
Source: Ibis World
Being at home for the majority of 2020, coffee consumption at home has been part of our daily routines. The data, I have below shows that there is a steady increase from 2017 to 2019 however the likely cause of the decline in domestic consumption of coffee in Australia would be due to the café and a coffee shop industry taking such a hard hit in 2020 with business not purchasing or selling the same level of coffee.
Untitled Visualisation
Beautiful, easy data visualization and storytelling
With life slowly but surely getting back to normal, the coffee industry is sure to bounce back in the next two years.
#DataJournalism
