Despite the warmer weather and relaxed restrictions, consumers reminded Ocado on Tuesday night, when The Great British Bake Off returned, of their love for home baking – a favourite pastime of the pandemic.
While the nation took their places in front of the TV between 8-9pm, demand for a feature on the show, malt loaf soared, as double-screening Brits updated their shopping baskets from the comfort of their own homes.
Demand for malt loaf increased by 667%, with Soreen products increasing by 385%, as hundreds of shoppers looked to purchase the age-old sweet sticky treat.
Ocado also saw a huge increase in demand for malt extract (7,600%), one of the key ingredients to make malt loaf, suggesting people are attempting to make it from scratch and continue the home baking trend.
With a focus on baked goods, some consumers opted for more classic products including chocolate mini rolls which saw an increase of 2,433% on Ocado.com.
Laura Harricks, chief customer officer at Ocado Retail said, “Being the UK’s only pure play online grocery retailer means that we have real-time insight into what our customers are looking for.
'We’ve known since the first lockdown that there is a keen interest in home baking across the nation, and the latest trends show an appetite to revisit the old classics, such as malt loaf!
'With the largest range than any other supermarket, we’re looking forward to delivering our extensive range of home baking supplies to budding bakers across the nation!”