For the majority of us, the intricacies of inflation are something we will probably never quite understand. How it is calculated and applied to everything we buy and sell is pretty mind boggling. The simple fact is, we care about the cost of things we purchase rising. To both keep on top of inflation and to keep things as simple as possible, in 1947, the Office for National Statistics began recording the prices of everyday items. These items were added to a ‘ consumer basket of goods ’ which reflected the most popular items on the market. Each year since then, they have continued to do so, adding and removing items based on their popularity in terms of changes in buying habits.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first ever basket of goods and it’s fair to say a lot has changed since then.
1947 was a year in which rationing was still in place and canned food was the alternative for fresh produce. It was also a time before the majority of people had a fridge and when vacuum cleaners were only just starting to arrive in the home.
We can all agree that the average buying habits of 1947 were staggeringly different to those in 2017. This 70 year anniversary now provides us with a great opportunity to take a closer look at just how much our buying habits have changed over the years.
Thanks to a new infographic from silverdoorapartments.com we can take a detailed look at the products we have continued to buy for decades and those which were merely a fad.
It’s called ‘70 Year Evolution Of The Consumer Basket Of Goods ’ and you can take a look at it below this post.
As it makes clear, our habits have chopped and changed quite considerably over the years. For example, with the rapid development of digital technologies, over the last thirty years, a lot of things have come and gone from the basket of goods.
In the 90’s the CD player entered the basket as the newest way to consume music. However, it was removed 9 years later because of the rise in MP3 players. You can read more about the rise and fall of CDs in this post from BT.
Equally, there are certain products which have hung around for a very long time. The likes of sliced bread, yogurts and fizzy drinks have remained firm favorites for many years.
