ConsumerSpeak

COVID DIDN’T CHANGE MY BUYING HABITS VERY MUCH … BUT JUST WAIT UNTIL BABY ARRIVES IN MARCH

Brazilian-born world traveller Márcio Moura is, unsurprisingly, an avid football fan. His team is São Paulo’s Corinthians, and Márcio lives in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, where he works for the Federal Revenue Service of Brazil. He has travelled widely and has also lived and worked in South Korea, Africa and the UK. He and his partner Maria are expecting their first child in March.

At home, tissue and towel products play an important role in my daily life and my family uses all tissue and towel products, toilet paper, kitchen tissue, facial tissue, napkins, etc. I also have the habit of keeping toilet paper and facial tissue in the car’s glove compartment as they come in handy when travelling.

Usually I buy these products at supermarkets and pharmacies. I’ve never ordered this kind of product online, mainly because it’s quick and easy just to pop down to our local shops to see and buy the products. Occasionally I will bulk buy toilet paper to save some money.

When it comes to loo roll and napkins, I prioritise high-quality products. Especially toilet tissue which has to be soft and fairly thick, preferably double layered. In this case, the brand of the product is important and I tend to stick to it. I like the familiarity of a product I know works well, and I am conservative! But I’m not closed to experimenting with new brands either. My favourite is Kimberly-Clark for that matter ... and for the other products, price trumps quality. I usually choose the cheapest one with some quality.

In terms of sustainable products, despite recognising the importance of this issue I don’t usually take it into consideration when buying products. Usually I assume the companies are responsible … so the only two variables I use in my decision making process are quality and price. I may have been naive in this matter!

Whenever I’ve travelled abroad, you see that some of the poorer countries offer little variety of brands, and consequently it’s harder to find quality products. However, I cannot complain about my experiences. In Africa, for example, I cannot recall bad experiences with toilet paper there. And even in Brazil, it’s noticeable the differences among regions with the quality and variety of products in supermarkets in poorer regions. Northern Brazil is more like Africa in its cultures and habits and there are fewer tissue and towel products available, whereas the south of Brazil is more similar to Europe, with a lot of high-quality tissue and towel products easily available.

During the year I worked in South Korea I also noticed that there were many higher quality products there, especially those made for skincare. Koreans are very concerned about their skin, so for all kinds of products that touch your skin, you know they have good quality.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, my buying habits haven’t changed. Even during the hardest time when restrictions were tightened and we were in lockdown, I kept buying at the supermarkets. At that time, I used to buy more quantities in fewer trips, not due to the fear of supply shortage but to avoid going out too frequently.

I think the biggest change to my household will arrive in March as we are expecting our first child. While we are – not yet – stocking up on products, I will be soon! A baby completely changes the routine of a household, so I’m certain the consumption of toilet paper and kitchen towel will increase enormously!

Tissue World Magazine | January/February 2022