Year in Review: How Strategist Readers Shopped in 2020
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your account’s‘Saved for Later’section.
Comment
As much as we love talking about our ownshopping findson the Strategist, we’re also always interested in what our readers are buying. And while we typically take a look at your favorites in our monthlyYour Shopping Cartfeature, we started to wonder as this long, strange year started to come to a close: How did our readers’ shopping habits change in 2020, when just about everything — including school, work, workouts, happy hours, and even grocery shopping — went online?
So we dove into your virtual shopping carts over the last 12 months to answer some of our most nagging questions. Like what was the best-selling thing in January versus March versus July? Which face mask was the most popular? And did anyone buy Steve Kornacki’sElection Night khakis? Here’s a closer look into how you shopped in 2020.
What were our top sellers every month?
We’ll start with an easy one. If you look at the actual number of items sold (rather than the amount of money spent), this is what we’ve got.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
New! You can now save this product for later.
January and February were pretty in-line with previous years’ trends: The Oral-B toothbrush was actually ourtop-selling itemof all of 2019, and the Uberlube is a perennial favorite on our monthly roundups of best sellers. But in March, everything shifted toward sanitizing wands to disinfect surfaces, blue-light-blocking glasses for hours in front of the computer, and lots of face masks. Note the change in face-mask preference over time, too: Our readers went from disposable, to reusable, to disposable again.
Which face mask was the most popular?
New! You can now save this product for later.
Vistaprint Dotted Face Mask
Though lots of different reusable and disposable face masks were best sellers this year, the one that most of our readers are wearing is theStrategist-testedVistaprint Dotted Face Mask, which features adjustable ear loops, breathable synthetic fabric, and a bendable wire nose strip. Runners-up were theVIDA Cotton Mask, a double-layer cotton face mask with adjustable ear loops, and the Buck Mason antimicrobial mask, which is made with three layers of the heavyweight cotton the brand uses to make its T-shirts. However, now that disposable masks are more readily available than they were at the start of the pandemic — and theblack surgical masksworn by the likes of the Biebers have become something of a fashion statement — these reusable options have become less popular over the course of 2020.
What was the busiest shopping day of 2020?
The biggest day of 2020 — when we had the most users on the site, buying the most things — was Black Friday, November 27. Given all of the good sales this year (and postal service delays), we weren’t so surprised that our readers wanted to get a head start on holiday shopping. Whatwassurprising was that even thoughPrime Daywas pushed back to October, it still hasn’t dethroned Black Friday as the biggest sales holiday — yet.
What was the most purchased item on Black Friday?
New! You can now save this product for later.
That would be theECOGUARD 3-Ply Disposable Face Masks, and not because they were on sale. We published a story on thebest (expert-approved) disposable face masksthe day before Thanksgiving, and these were described as “very comfortable and fit pretty well without much need for adjustment.” Plus, these three-ply masks pass thecandle testwith flying colors.
New! You can now save this product for later.
Oursecond most purchased(and non-pandemic-related) item was Everlane’sCashmere Sweater Tee, which actually was on sale during Everlane’s first-ever Black Friday sale.
What was Strategist’s most shared story?
Perhaps because we can’t smell them IRL anymore, our most shared story this year — via email or social media — was ourexpert-recommended guide to perfumes. Writer Dominique Pariso talked to beauty editors, podcasters, jewelry designers, and even our own writers to find all of the best ones (28, to be exact), including this perfume that one writer and podcaster says is “what you wear when you’re invited to the Met Gala.”
New! You can now save this product for later.
Speaking of the Met Gala, what was the most expensive thing anyone bought?
New! You can now save this product for later.
Back in 2018, the most expensive item purchased by one of our readers was a very comfortable-looking, very pricey then-$8,000massage chair from Kahuna. Two years later,this even more luxurious model— the favorite ofAngela Bassett,Anthony Anderson, andJonathan Cheban— takes the top spot. According to the brand, it automatically scans the body to deliver a custom massage and can memorize a user’s favorite settings — like heating, zero-gravity angle, spine-roller speed, foot-roller speed, and air intensity — to make the experience even more enjoyable. We wouldn’t call the $10,000 price tag soothing, but … at least the shipping’s free.
What was the Strategist’s most popular What I Can’t Live Without?
New! You can now save this product for later.
The most popular installment of ourcelebrity shoppingcolumn came just last month, when we spoke to actress, activist, and avid Ina Garten fanJennifer Garnerabout her favorite things. Her picks ranged from hair pins to kitchen mixers andcookbooks, but our readers were most taken by her chainmailcast-iron pot scrubber. “This cast-iron scrubber will reignite your love for yourcast iron,” Garner told us. “It is so hard to clean, but this takes care of it in a way you didn’t know was possible.”
Which item from our What ICanLive Without auction raised the most money?
New! You can now save this product for later.
Back in August, we went back to some of our favoritecelebrity shoppersto ask them about things thattheycanlive without, and asked if they would be willing to sell themat auctionfor charity, in partnership with eBay. All of the proceeds went to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and eBay matched every dollar the auction earned. Donated items includedSaweetie’s custom Air Force 1’s,Roxane Gay’s favorite Bose headphones,Chris Carrabba’s first guitar strap, andSandra “Pepa” Denton’s “Push It”–themed snowboard, but it wasJoji’s signed Akai keyboard— with 66 total bids and a final bid of $3,250 — that raised the most money. But if we’re talking the highest number of bids, rather than dollars, that would bePhoebe Bridgers’s test pressings, which received 89 bids, and went for an only slightly more modest $3,006.
And how many people bought Steve Kornacki’s khakis?
New! You can now save this product for later.
While it took days (and it felt like years) for Election Night results to trickle in, lots of folks did seem to quickly come to an agreement on one thing:Steve Kornacki’s tireless, county-by-county forecasts stole the show. After seeing our friends at Vulturedebate whetherKornacki’s “butt looks especially good or we’re just slowly being driven mad,” writer Louis Cheslaw found himself taking a closer look at the political correspondent’s bottom half to see if he could identify the pants covering it, and whether they had something to do with making it look as good as our colleagues imagined it did. As it turns out,Kornackiwears thisstraight-fit, ocher-colored pairfrom the Gap — and, now, so do 55 of our readers. And while 55 might seem like a humble number, our deputy editor Maxine Builder (who would know) calls that “fairly impressive” for khakis during a pandemic.
The Strategistis designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the bestacne treatments,rolling luggage,pillows for side sleepers,natural anxiety remedies, andbath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
