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Music stars Taylor Swift and Oasis, great sporting moments at the Euros and the Olympics, and what felt like an almost entirely rainy year, influenced consumer spending this year.<\/p>\n
Here is a month-by-month breakdown of what encouraged us to open our wallets this year.<\/p>\n
January<\/p>\n
Britons kick off the New Year with a frugal approach as cost-of-living pressures rumble on, choosing to stay at home and indulge in new film and TV releases such as The Traitors and Fool Me Once. The Traitors presenter Claudia Winkleman\u2019s chunky knitwear and tartan clothing influences fans, reports Hobbycraft, which sees online sales of its knitted jumper patterns rise by 96% compared to the previous period.<\/p>\n
Searches for bone broth \u2013 said to boost collagen and aid digestion and general health \u2013 are up 163% at Waitrose, and #bonebroth has nearly 300 million TikTok views.<\/p>\n
Chicken chain Wingstop announced it is aiming to open 15 new restaurants across the UK \u2013 its biggest year of expansion since launching in the country in 2018.<\/p>\n
February<\/p>\n
Sol de Janeiro\u2019s Bum Bum cream becomes the most successful beauty launch in John Lewis\u2019s history after it hits shelves in February.<\/p>\n
The #hashwich, a sandwich made using hash browns instead of bread, takes TikTok by storm. Sales of hash browns increase by 24.8% year on year at Waitrose.<\/p>\n
Deliveroo launches a partnership with Ann Summers, allowing consumers to have products from the lingerie and sex toy retailer delivered to their homes \u201cwithin minutes\u201d.<\/p>\n
March<\/p>\n
Australians flock to Waitrose when it is announced that stores will start stocking Tim Tam chocolate bars, known as \u201cAussie gold\u201d. Searches for Tim Tams at waitrose.com the next day rise 202%. The treat consists of two malted biscuits coated in a layer of chocolate with a chocolate cream filling.<\/p>\n
One in seven adult British smokers say they use menthol-flavoured cigarettes despite them being banned since 2020, according to a study.April<\/p>\n
The month becomes the sixth wettest April of the last 189 years, sending sales of dehumidifiers shooting up 22% at John Lewis.<\/p>\n
Sales of umbrellas rocket by 94% compared to the previous year, while wellie sales are up 43%.<\/p>\n
May<\/p>\n
As England and Scotland prepare for their opening Euros matches, 6% of shoppers plan to buy a new TV or electronic device to watch and keep up with their team and 4% plan to buy official merchandise, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reports.<\/p>\n
Separate figures from Adobe show a 14.4% increase in spending on TVs compared with normal levels as armchair fans prepare to tune in at home, while online sales of England football shirts and other team merchandise increase by 115%.<\/p>\n
June<\/p>\n
England\u2019s progression through the Euros tournament sees football fans driving beer sales up by an average of 13% on the days that the team play compared with the same day in the previous week. However, with many matches played on \u201cschool nights\u201d, Britons opt for moderation, sending spending on no and low-alcohol beer up by 38% on matchdays.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the soggy summer has seen sales of cold and flu treatments jump by 35%, while sun cream sales are down by 10% and sales of artificial tan rise by 16% compared with the year before when the UK enjoyed the warmest June on record.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s stunning string of Euros wins is largely attributed to the team\u2019s use of pickle juice to offset cramping. Pickle juice searches at waitrose.com hit an all-time high in mid-June and pickled gherkin sales are up 7% year on year.<\/p>\n
Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras tour finally arrives in the UK. Between June 7 and June 22 \u2013 the first UK leg of her tour \u2013 searches for girls\u2019 sequin dresses shoot up 357% on the year at John Lewis, while sequin skirt searches jump 98%.<\/p>\n
July<\/p>\n
Football fans spend \u00a310 million on beer on the day of the Euro 2024 final, the most spent on a Sunday in more than three years.<\/p>\n
Shoppers send sales of wine up by 35%, nuts by 60% and crisps by 10% on the Friday of the Olympics opening ceremony, compared with the week before.<\/p>\n
Taylor Swift mania continues in full force, with Hobbycraft reporting online sales of its Friendship Bracelets Kit rising by 90% between June and August. Sales of beads rose by 21% and its beading thread saw a 136% uplift.<\/p>\n
August<\/p>\n
The Oasis comeback tour sells out within hours of dates going on sale on August 31. Throughout the day, hundreds of thousands of fans sit in online queues in the hope of being able to buy a first-hand view of a tour that comes 15 years after the group disbanded in an acrimonious split.<\/p>\n
Cucumber sales rise by 17.5% at Waitrose in mid-August thanks to TikTok\u2019s grip on young food lovers. A cucumber salad recipe from Logan Moffitt (aka the cucumber guy with his 4.8 million followers) is so popular that farmers in Iceland struggle to keep up with demand<\/p>\n
Wingstop announces it was to open six more shops this year, adding 300 new jobs to its 2,500-strong workforce, while McDonald\u2019s says it plans to open more than 200 restaurants across the UK and Ireland over the next four years, its largest expansion programme for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
September<\/p>\n
Air fryers are now the third most-used appliance in British kitchens after toasters and microwave ovens, according to a Good Food annual survey.<\/p>\n
The unusually wet weather in September sees hot chocolate sales surge by 28%, soup by 10% and home baking by 7%, Kantar reports.<\/p>\n
The cold weather sees rice pudding recipe searches up 66%, while searches for other warming comfort food favourites including plum and blackberry cobbler are up 150%.<\/p>\n
October<\/p>\n
Halloween continues its surging popularity in the UK, with Kantar reporting that 3.2 million households bought at least one pumpkin, while spending on confectionery hit \u00a3525 million as sales of chocolates and sweets climb by 13% and 7% respectively.<\/p>\n
November<\/p>\n
Chicken wings, Caesar salads and a whole Waitrose cucumber are the UK\u2019s top trending food deliveries of this year, Deliveroo reports.<\/p>\n
The most popular UK food delivery is the dish of eight boneless wings from Wingstop.<\/p>\n
December<\/p>\n
Freida McFadden\u2019s The Housemaid is the best-selling book of the year on Amazon\u2019s UK platform, while Rory Stewart\u2019s memoir Politics On The Edge tops the biography category.<\/p>\n
John Lewis reports that sales of boxed Christmas cards are down 23% on last year, and individual Christmas cards are down 15%. Their fortunes will not have been helped by the fact that a first-class stamp now costs an eye-watering \u00a31.65.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emails I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our\u00a0privacy policy Music stars Taylor Swift and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n