Dishwasher tablets have been ordered online by the consumers of eMAG for many years, but toilet paper and soft drinks have only recently been ordered in greater numbers. The increased interest is presumably driven by cost-saving and practical reasons.

In the past, it wasn't common to order a washing machine or TV "over the internet", but nowadays it's a perfectly rational choice, as it saves you the hassle of transporting it home. The covid epidemic of 2020 has significantly changed shopping habits, and for a year and a half, consumers were regularly ordering items in bulk online that they would normally buy offline. After the pandemic receded, adverse economic conditions have driven domestic shoppers, who have become more price-sensitive to online platforms, and as a result, new categories of products have become online hits.

Toilet paper from the internet?

The rise of online ordering is particularly impressive in the case of toilet paper: although it has been available on eMAG.hu since 2014, customers only started ordering it in larger numbers in 2018. The number of purchases increased six times from 2019 to 2020, and twenty-five times compared to 2018 in the first year of the pandemic.

However, growth has continued steadily since the end of the epidemic: in 2021, there was a 30 times increase compared to 2018, and last year there was almost a 37 times increase, which means monthly sales in the tens of thousands. Based on the sales figures so far this year, there is a good chance that 2023 could be a record-breaking year for sales of toilet paper at eMAG, as the total number of 2020 units had already been sold by the end of April, and the number of orders could even double compared to last year.

As the most popular toilet papers ordered online are in the 20-40 roll packs (easybox offers up to 40 roll sets), many people likely order toilet paper from eMAG to save money, and others simply because they don't like carrying a large pack of toilet paper with them on the street.

One alcoholic drink for every thirty soft drinks sold

Beverages have been available on eMAG for seven years now, but it was only in the year of the pandemic that this category was seriously launched. Soft drinks and mineral waters are the main products that customers are looking for, and last year they sold roughly 30 times as many of these as alcoholic drinks: last year, roughly three times as many non-alcoholic drinks were ordered as in the first year of the pandemic, while this year, in the first four months, as many drinks were sold as in 2021 combined.

Interestingly, based on last year's figures, the most popular products are fruit-flavored soft drinks packaged in two-ounce cans and their carton multipacks, as well as mineral waters, typically 1.5-2 liters. Beer, red wine, white wine and vodka were the most popular alcoholic beverages.

Washing and dishwashing tablets have been a hit for a long time

Unlike toilet paper, for example, dishwashing tablets have been a hit online for more than five years, but in the first year of the pandemic their sales tripled, and last year almost twice as many tablets, softening salts, and similar accessories were ordered as in 2020, while less than half as many people ordered traditional hand dishwashing gel. Thanks to various discount offers, rinses and detergents have been selling very well at eMAG for almost seven years now, and their popularity has increased further since the pandemic.

Many of the above categories are ordered in combination, for example, toilet paper is combined with detergent and dishwashing liquid in the online shopping basket to reach the free easybox delivery threshold.