By all accounts, the 2020 presidential election had the highest turnout in over a century. Millions of Americans across the country spent hours at home anxiously watching the results come in. Gopuff customers were among these, and we saw some interesting trends in their orders on Election Day and election night. Here are a few of our favorites: 

Sales went up on election night, especially once races started to get called

One of our customers’ favorite times to order Gopuff is when they’re watching major TV events, whether they’re sitting on the edge of their seats by themselves or with their family and friends. This proved to be true on election night—sales went up 20% vs. the previous Tuesday. 

The highest concentration of sales occurred from 8 pm**–**10 pm Eastern, as races started getting called and Americans started getting settled on the couch for what ended up being a long night (that didn’t really end until Saturday). 

Battleground states especially plugged in (to both the election and the Gopuff app)

Gopuff operates in over 500 cities, some in red states and some in blue states. However, cities in the battleground states ordered the most on election night. While the nation set its eyes on these states, customers who reside there turned to Gopuff. As officials tabulated votes, the next most important decision quickly became which Ben & Jerry’s flavor to order for a night of county-by-county analyses. 

Among the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest election night growth in sales (vs. the previous Tuesday), eight are in battleground states. These areas include:

• Raleigh, NC

• Charlottesville, VA

• Winston-Salem, NC

• Charlotte, NC

• Allentown, PA

• Atlanta, GA 

• Tallahassee, FL

• Columbus, OH

Rounding out the Top 10 are Washington, D.C. (unsurprisingly) and Bloomington, IN.

The votes are in, and alcohol is a clear winner among Gopuff customers

Whether customers sought to celebrate or to ease the tension, domestic beer, craft beer, white wine, imported beer and spiked seltzer all saw more than 50% sales growth as compared to the previous Tuesday.  

Nationwide, election night’s top alcohol product proved to be White Claw Seltzer Variety 12–pack, which also saw a 71% order increase vs. the previous week. Also popular in the hard/spiked class is TRULY Hard Lemonade Variety 12-pack, which saw a 75% sales increase in the same time period.

It seems many customers hoped to pop a bottle when their candidate won on election night, as sales of sparkling wine and champagne went up 116% vs. the previous Tuesday. Customers even searched “champagne” 1,900% more than they would on a typical Tuesday.

While we delivered champagne to these customers before Steve Kornacki could even get a sip of water, they had to wait several days until a winner was called (though we assume they still poured some bubbly on election night). 

Customers prepared for a long night with digestive aids

It seems many Gopuff customers experienced stomach issues on election night, as sales for digestive products (including Tums and Pepto Bismol) saw a 71% increase in sales throughout the evening. We also saw searches for Pedialyte grow by 1,000%.

This may be due to a mix of stress and (based on everything else customers ordered) eating and drinking too much, but either way, our selection of health products helped save the night for these customers, even if a winner wasn’t called right away. 

The trends we saw on election night suggest a few interesting things

Heightened emotions impact purchase behavior, with customers turning to indulgences to help ease the stress. Also, on a lighter note, no night in on the couch is complete without a few drinks and snacks. 

While we only have a presidential election every four years, we see similar trends when customers tune into other major TV events like the NFL’s Big Game and the “Game of Thrones” finale. 

Regardless of what’s causing our customers to stay anxiously glued to their TV, Gopuff is available around the clock in most locations to deliver the everyday essentials they need so they don’t miss a thing. 

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