The huge disruption brought to every day life by the Covid-19 lockdown meant consumers no longer had the freedom to buy what they wanted when they wanted.
Staying in became the new going out and the businesses that thrived during the pandemic reveal huge amounts about buying habits and what people put first during their enforced prolonged periods at home.
From sofas, curtains to pizza deliveries - it's no surprise then that those brands that have come out of it the best already had a slick online presence, were big enough to weather the storm or were selling the things we needed most.
These are some of the brands that have seen sales soar.
VERY
Like most online retailers, Very had increased demand and success, with people unable to use physical shops and the high street.
The company reported 36% growth for its Very.co.uk sales during April, May and June, with annual revenues having topped £2bn for the first time.
Speaking to BusinessLive earlier this month, Chief Executive Henry Birch said: "We are definitely in growth mode, which is fairly significant now.
Most Read
"Given that the high street was closed during that [lockdown] period, we're unlikely to see growth levels of that order going forward, but we're definitely continuing to perform well, and we're very optimistic about not only current trading, but also about the future."
Read the full interview with Very boss Henry Birch
The firm, which now sells everything from clothing to furniture alongside financial services, rebranded to the Very Group earlier this year
ASOS
Annual profits have quadrupled for online fashion group Asos thanks to cost-cutting action and as customers returned fewer items amid the pandemic.
The firm reported pre-tax profits of £142.1 million for the year to August 31, up 329% from £33.1 million a year earlier, as sales jumped 19% including 18% growth in the 海角视频.
Nick Beighton, chief executive of Asos, said: “Life for our 20-something customers is unlikely to return to normal for quite some time.”
Don’t miss
Asos shrugged off soaring costs due to the pandemic by making savings across the group, while a trend for customers to buy more carefully and return less also offset plunging demand for “going-out” items.
It said shoppers were returning fewer items because they have changed what they buy on the site, switching from formalwear to products such as activewear and mascara, which are less likely to be sent back in normal times.
NEXT
A rebound in sales in recent weeks has seen Next Plc predict a rosier outlook than it first feared.
The high street fashion chain which adapted quickly to the pandemic and saw its online sales jump 14 per cent in the six months to July.
But lockdown saw its store sales slump 61 per cent.
The company has announced pre-tax losses for the first half of 2020 of £16.5 million.
By comparison it made profits of £327.4 million a year earlier. Combined, it meant overall sales for the half year were down a third.
The business now expects full-year underlying pre-tax profits of £300 million – up from the £195 million previously predicted.
But it's not all good news - the retailer said it expects to close 13 of its 498 stores and cut rents by 50 per cent on the 60 stores where leases come up for renewal this year.
Signing off the half year results chief executive Lord Simon Wolfson said the company’s sales performance through the pandemic has been more resilient than expected.
He said “The scale of our online business (in the 海角视频 and overseas), the breadth of our product offer, and the fact that much of our store portfolio is located out of town, have served to mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic on trade.”
He said its finances remained in good shape due to cutting stock levels and costs during the slowdown and generating cash through its customer credit services and the sale of some assets – including some warehouses and its head office which it has leased back.
He said: “These actions, along with the fact that the business went into the pandemic with healthy net margins and low capital requirements, mean that we are likely to go into next year with significantly less net debt than we had at the start of the year.”
AMAZON
Amazon has been expanding in the 海角视频 this year, as more people shop online due to lockdown restrictions.
Its total sales surged 26% to £13.73bilion and the company said last week it would create a further 7,000 海角视频 jobs this year to meet growing demand, taking its total permanent workforce to 40,000 by the end of the year.
Amazon started its rapid expansion of its Amazon Fresh in July, making it free Prime subscribers.
The online retail giant saw grocery sales surge during the lockdown, as more shoppers wanted food to be delivered to their doors.
Russell Jones, country manager at Amazon Fresh 海角视频, said sales have been "particularly strong" following the lockdown, but stressed that the latest move had been in the pipeline long before coronavirus hit the 海角视频.
Amazon has invested millions in the Prime service, which provides customers with free next-day Amazon delivery and films, and TV programmes via its Prime Video streaming service.
DOMINO'S
Domino's Pizza announced the after seeing an uplift in demand for deliveries through the pandemic.
The firm said it is creating 5,000 new jobs and also 1,000 apprenticeship positions under the Government's Kickstart scheme.
The new positions will include pizza chefs, customer service workers and delivery drivers, and are on top of the 6,000 jobs Domino's said it has created since the start of the pandemic.
ALDI
The supermarket chain saw sales increase by 13% over the 12 weeks to July 12, according to figures from Kantar.
And the German supermarket business announced in July that it plans to .
The retailer, which currently has more than 890 stores and around 35,000 海角视频 staff, said it has already created 2,800 new permanent jobs this year after grocery sales surged in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
New stores announced for the rest of this year include Sandhurst, Bristol and Edinburgh, as it moved towards it target of operating 1,200 stores by 2025.
DUNELM
Dunelm said it came out of lockdown stronger than it went in, with online sales doubled at the height of the crisis.
Customers used lockdown to improve their home decor but as over the wider economy and the potential impact of further regional and national lockdowns, the outlook is uncertain.
The business said the impact of the pandemic meant total sales for the last 12 months were £1.06 billion – around 4 per cent down on a year earlier.
Pre-tax profits, meanwhile, were down more than 13 per cent at £109 million.
Chief executive Nick Wilkinson said that the integrated online and out-of-town stores proposition, broad product range, long-term supplier relationships, strong cash generation and operational grip had helped it weather the additional costs of the pandemic.
LEGO
The Danish toy firm said e-commerce was central to the business, with visits to its website doubling to 100 million in the first half of 2020.
The toy firm announced revenues of DKK 15.7bn (£1.8bn) for the first half of the year, up 7%, while operating profit grew by 11%.
The company has 14 stores in the 海角视频. Of the new stores it is opening, 46 were launched in the first half of the year.
The company said through lockdown, adults are getting involved in building Lego kits.
Sales of the more complicated - and more expensive - big Lego sets grew by two and a half times in the first half of the year.
MORRISONS
posted surging retail sales over a "volatile" first quarter.
The chain reported a 5.7% rise in group like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, in the 14 weeks to May 10.
It said group sales jumped 10.8% over the last two weeks of the quarter, with a 9.6% contribution from retail and 1.2% growth in wholesale.
But it took a hit from plunging fuel demand amid the coronavirus lockdown and group sales were 3.9% down in the quarter.
Morrisons said fuel like-for-like sales crashed around 70% during 海角视频 lockdown as Britons were forced to stay at home.
And the temporary move to close its in-store cafes, as well as additional costs of protecting staff and adapting its business, were likely to weigh on profits.
SCS
The Sunderland based sofa and flooring business, which has 100 stores across the 海角视频, says it is seeing pent-up demand from customers spending on their homes, serving up an additional £19m in sales.
Post-lockdown trading was strong in store and online, and group order intake rebounded to 92.2% of last year’s levels in the period from May 24 to July 25.
The firm, which employs 1,700 people and has 99 stores across the 海角视频, temporarily closed its store and distribution network from March 23 to May 23 following the announcement of Government guidance on social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
In an update to shareholders ahead of announcing full year results later this month, the firm said: “We believe current performance continues to benefit from pent-up demand and an increased investment by 海角视频 consumers in their homes.
“Trading since the start of the new financial year has remained strong, with like-for-like order intake growth of 51% for the six weeks to 5 September 2020."
CO-OP
A rise in local shopping during lockdown helped boost sales for the retailer. Like-for-like sales in food increased by 8.8% in the six months to 24 July.
But Co-op expects coronavirus-related costs to hit £97m for the full year.
Around 1.7 million new households had shopped at a Co-op store for the first time during the pandemic.
Total revenues for the group increased by 7.6% to £5.8bn for the 26 weeks to 4 July, it said in its half-year results. Driven by an "exceptional performance" in food and wholesale trading, its profit before tax was also up 35% at £27m in comparison with the same period last year.
But coronavirus-related costs reached around £54million, largely down to additional store workers being recruited and the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) for those working in shops.
The mutual has also reported that demand for will-writing services rose by 69% and divorce enquiries soared by 300% as the coronavirus lockdown led many to consider their mortality and their relationships.
DPD
People shopping at home during the lockdown led parcel delivery giant s and opening new depots.
The company announced in June that it was investing £200million this year to expand its next-day parcel capacity, including £100million on vehicles, £6 million on 15 new regional depots, and the remainder on technology.
DPD said even before lockdown restrictions were announced in March, demand for its delivery service had risen significantly as people started increasing their reliance on online shopping.
DPD is forecasting the growth to continue this year, despite shops reopening.
ICELAND
Online orders surged for the retailer by more than 300% since April as shoppers rushed to book delivery slots and all non-essential retailers shut their doors.
It created created 3,000 new jobs to cope with the huge extra demand, including extra delivery drivers and more staff in stores for picking online orders
Before lockdown the grocer had a minor online operation, compared with some of its competitors.
But since then orders soared four-fold.
Ramping up changes, Iceland revealed it now has the ability to handle 750,000 orders every week.
TESCO
Supermarket giant Tesco is to create 16,000 new permanent roles to support the "exceptional growth" of its online business.
The firm said the 16,000 jobs will be in addition to the 4,000 permanent jobs already created since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tesco said online customer numbers had risen from around 600,000 at the start of the pandemic, to nearly 1.5 million.
Before the pandemic, around 9% of Tesco's sales were online. Now, online sales amount to 16% of sales, and are expected to be worth over £5.5bn this year, the company said.
GAME WORKSHOP
As hobbyists suddenly found themselves with time on their hands, sales and profits for Games Workshop soared.
The Warhammer creator's annual financial report, released to the London Stock Exchange, shows revenue hit £269.7 million for the year to May 31, up from £256.6 million.
Meanwhile, pre-tax profits jumped from £81.3 million to £89.4 million.
Kevin Rountree, the Lenton-based firm’s chief executive, said: “An amazing set of results - the best year in Games Workshop's history, so far.
“You can once again see from these results that our business and the Warhammer hobby are in good shape."