Instacart Says Tampon Searches Went Up 13% Amid Shortage
Instacart said on Monday that it has been reaping the consequences of the tampon shortage.
The grocery delivery and pick-up service said that its searches for tampons went up 13% from last week and that it has only been able to fulfill customers' tampon orders 67% of the time as of June 19.
"We're beginning to see tampon turbulence show up in the Instacart app in response to the growing shortage, with purchasing behavior beginning to rival that of the beginning of the pandemic as customers adopt stock-up behavior," Laurentia Romaniuk, Instacart's trend expert and senior product manager, said in a statement.
Many people have moved to delivery apps as a backup plan when searching for tampons, but this option has now also been affected by the shortage.
Instacart shows users which stores near them have a low supply and if what they are looking for is not there, they will offer an alternative option.
Consumers have complained of the shortage for months, but manufacturers only acknowledged an actual shortage last week.
Tampax tampons are reportedly "producing tampons 24/7 to meet the increased demand." Chain store Walgreens told Fox Business on Saturday that it will still try to always have something in stock even though it may not be brand specific.
“However, similar to other retailers, we are experiencing some temporary brand-specific tampon shortages in certain geographies. While we will continue to have products at shelf and online, it may only be in specific brands while we navigate the supply disruption," Walgreens said.
The U.S. is also experiencing shortages of various other necessary products like baby formula and groceries.
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