How far has panic buying been studied?

Table 1 Summary of the articles

No.	Ref.	Year	Type	Title	Method applied	Key message
1	Ahmed et al[10]	2020	Original	The COVID-19 pandemic and the antecedents for the impulse buying behavior of US citizens	Survey (online and offline)	This study sorted out nine variables from the literature that may influence impulsive buying and tested them by conducting surveys in major United States cities. The variables include fear of complete lockdown, peer buying, the limited supply of essential goods, empty shelves, United States stimulus checks, panic buying, fear appeal, social media fake news, and COVID-19.
2	Alchin[11]	2020	Commentary	Gone with the wind		This paper proposes a definition of “panic buying,” with references to literature, philosophy, and contemporary neurobiology. The self-fulfilling prophecy, the contagion model of emotional propagation, the Polyvagal Theory, and Nietzsche‘s study of the classical tragedy were discussed in relation to panic buying.
3	Alfa et al[12]	2020	Original	Effect of panic buying on individual savings: The COVID-19 lockdown experience	Cross-sectional	The paper assessed the microeconomic effect of PB on the savings of an individual. This study’s findings revealed that price fluctuation, price differential, and spending hurt the individual saving rate.
4	Arafat et al[2]	2020	Original	Responsible factors of panic buying: An observation from online media reports	Analysis of media reports	The authors analyzed 784 media reports to find out the reported responsible factors of panic buying. A sense of scarcity, increased demand, importance of the product, and anticipation of the price hike were the major contributing force towards PB, as mentioned in the reports. The authors postulated a causative model of PB.
5	Arafat et al[3]	2020	Original	Media portrayal of panic buying: A content analysis of online news portals	Analysis of media reports	This study analyzed content published in media to determine how media is depicting PB during COVID-19.The findings suggested that the media have been portraying more negative aspects of PB. The authors recommended developing media guidelines to censor news that influences impulse buying behavior.
6	Arafat et al[4]	2020	Original	Panic buying: An insight from the content analysis of media reports during COVID-19 pandemic	Media report analysis	The authors proposed a definition of PB. This study analyzed information extracted from English media reports to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of PB.
7	Arafat et al[5]	2020	Correspondence	Psychological underpinning of panic buying during pandemic (COVID-19)		The authors studied psychological reasons of PB, which include fear of scarcity, insecurity, losing control over the environment, social learning, and exacerbation of anxiety.
8	Arafat et al[8]	2020	Correspondence	Possible controlling measures of panic buying during COVID-19		The authors mentioned possible measures to control PB during a pandemic. The recommendations included positive role-playing by media. Promotion of feeling of kinship and encouraging generosity can reduce it from the public end. Setting a quota policy and subsidiary sales for necessity items could be a potential strategy.
9	Arafat et al[9]	2020	Correspondence	Panic buying: Is it really a problem?		The paper mentioned some challenges to study PB in detail to explore its several aspects
10	Benker[13]	2020	Original	Stockpiling as resilience: Defending and contextualising extra food procurement during lockdown	Online interview	This study analyzed 19 invited interviews taken online in the United Kingdom. The study found that though food shortages were common for a couple of weeks, food hoarding didn’t make impulsive buying. The United Kingdom households considered food procurement as a single resilience strategy among the taken six strategies.
11	Chen et al[14]	2020	Discussion	A discussion of irrational stockpiling behaviour during crisis		The authors discussed the current and long-term impact of PB on the economy, society, and local communities. They think that stopping impulse buying is impossible, but it should be controlled by improving the supply chain and maintaining communication with the stakeholders.
12	Dammeyer[15]	2020	Original	An explorative study of the individual differences associated with consumer stockpiling during the early stages of the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak in Europe	Online survey	This study answered whether individual differences influenced PB during crises. The authors found a high tendency of stockpiling on extroversion and neuroticism and a relatively low tendency on conscientiousness and openness.
13	Dickins et al[16]	2020	Original	Food shopping under risk and uncertainty	Authors analyzed super market sales data	In this study, the authors showed the importance of food security and suggested optimality models of foraging under risk and uncertainty as foraging correlates to PB.
14	Dulam et al[17]	2020	Original	Development of an agent-based model for the analysis of the effect of consumer panic buying on supply chain disruption due to a disaster	Simulation model	This study used an agent-based simulation model to analyze how a supply chain responds to consumer PB caused by a natural disaster. The authors found this model useful in applying a quota policy per person to protect the supply chain from disruption.
15	Du et al[18]	2020	Original	COVID-19 increases online searches for emotional and health-related terms	Data mining from Google Trends	This study measured fear-related emotions, protective behaviors, seeking health-related knowledge, and PB due to COVID-19 prevalence in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia using internet search volumes in Google Trends. The results found that the increased prevalence of COVID-19 was associated with panic buying consistently in all four countries.
16	Hall et al[19]	2020	Original	Beyond panic buying: consumption displacement and COVID-19	Cross-sectional	The authors analyzed consumer spending data acquired from financial third parties and found instances of PB for grocery, home, hardware, and electrical categories that happened in the Canterbury region of New Zealand before the lockdown that lasted less than a week. The study showed a high consumption displacement in the hospitality and retailing sectors that dominate this area’s economy.
17	Hao et al[20]	2020	Original	Impact of online grocery shopping on stockpile behavior in COVID-19	Online survey	It investigated how online shops affect the food stockpiling manner among urban consumers in China using bivariate probit models. The authors recommended improved and resilient supply chains that can withstand intense PB phenomena during emergencies.
18	Islam et al[21]	2020	Original	Panic buying in the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country examination	Online survey	The authors surveyed 1081 people from United States, China, India, and Pakistan to test their conceptual model and hypotheses. The research revealed that stimuli such as Limited Quantity Scarcity and Limited Time Scarcity affect emotional stress, which eventually influences impulse buying. The findings also correlated excessive social media use to PB and discussed some managerial implications.
19	Jeżewska-Zychowicz et al[22]	2020	Original	Consumers’ fears regarding food availability and purchasing behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: The importance of trust and perceived stress	Cross-sectional	It investigated how the public perception of food availability changed based on the trust in the received information from media and friends. The participants showed less trust in media for COVID updates but high trust in media and friends for food availability updates and increased buying more food than usual. The consumers were highly afraid of empty shelves in the market, which also motivated them to stockpile food.
20	Kar et al[23]	2020	Correspondence	Online group cognitive behavioral therapy for panic buying: Understanding the usefulness in COVID-19 context		The authors postulated to explain the usefulness of online group CBT in COVID19 context for controlling the PB.
21	Keane et al[24]	2020	Original	Consumer panic in the COVID-19 pandemic	Data mining using Google Health Trends API	The authors developed an econometric model of consumer panic using Google search data for 54 countries from January 1st to April 30th, 2020. Findings included limited movement notice announced by local or foreign governments generated a week-long short-run panic. The study found little impact of stimulus offerings and no consumer panic due to travel restrictions.
22	Kostev et al[25]	2020	Original	Panic buying, or good adherence? Increased pharmacy purchases of drugs from wholesalers in the last week before Covid-19 lockdown	Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the IMS RPM® (Regional Pharmaceutical Market) Weekly database	The paper assessed the PB of medication during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The study suggested that Germany’s lockdown was associated with a sharp increase in purchasing behavior in pharmacies for different markets, including psychotropic, neurological, and cardiovascular drugs.
23	Laato et al[26]	2020	Original	Unusual purchasing behavior during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: The stimulus-organism-response approach	Online survey	The authors conducted a web survey with 211 Finnish participants for a week to test a hypothetical research model. The study found a positive link between voluntary self-isolation and unusual purchases. The online information overload caused cyberchondria, which eventually motivated self-isolation followed by PB.
24	Lins et al[27]	2020	Original	Development and initial psychometric properties of a panic buying scale during COVID-19 pandemic	Online survey	This study developed the first PB scale that was psychometrically acceptable in the Brazilian context.
25	Loxton et al[28]	2020	Review	Consumer behavior during crises: Preliminary research on how coronavirus has manifested consumer panic buying, herd mentality, changing discretionary spending and the role of the media in influencing behaviour	Literature review and cross-sectional data analysis	This study reviewed consumer behavior data, including impulse buying, herd instinct, and prioritization of purchasing decisions of past crises and shock events. The authors then analyzed consumer spending data acquired from data services that confirmed the sorted variables in the COVID-19 context.
26	Martin-Neuninger et al[29]	2020	Opinion	What does food retail research tell us about the implications of coronavirus (COVID-19) for grocery purchasing habits?		The paper discussed the consequences of lockdowns on consumer grocery purchasing habits, focusing on New Zealand. In avoidance of PB, the authors suggested few recommendations to the food companies so that people can enjoy visiting supermarkets without compromising safety. They also asked to improve online delivery services to gain trust and customer confidence.
27	Micalizzi et al[1]	2020	Original	Stockpiling in the time of COVID-19	Survey	This study aimed to discuss stockpiling behavior during COVID-19 and investigated individual predictors of stockpiling. Those affiliated with conservative politics, worry much about COVID-19, and self-isolated were prone to stockpiling behavior.
28	Naeem[30]	2020	Original	Do social media platforms develop consumer panic buying during the fear of Covid-19 pandemic	Telephonic interview	The study revealed how social media aggravated PB by arousing fear appeal. Along with some exacerbating factors like uncertainties, anxiety, persuasive buying, empty shelves, and exert opinion, a huge load of information at users’ fingertips made them more anxious about what was to come, leading to panic buying.
29	Prentice et al[31]	2020	Original	Timed intervention in COVID-19 and panic buying	Semantic analysis, secondary data and big data analysis	This paper depicted PB as a side effect of the Australian government’s timed-intervention policy. The authors supported their findings with real-life evidence.
30	Rosita[32]	2020	Review	Panic buying in the COVID-19 pandemic era in Indonesia	Literature review	This paper proposed a definition of PB and extrapolated some underlying reasons for it. It also mentioned the negative impact of impulsive buying and recommended some stakeholders’ measures to control it.
31	Shorey et al[33]	2020	Original	Perceptions of the public on the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore: A qualitative content analysis	Qualitative content analysis	This study analyzed 2075 comments made to the 29 published news by local media outlets on their Facebook pages to find common concerns shared by Singapore’s public. The five main themes derived from the qualitative thematic analysis were fear and concern, PB and hoarding, reality and expectations about the situation, staying positive amid the ‘storm,’ and worries about the future. The authors recommended clear communication, timely updates, and support measures from the government to maintain social peace and cohesion.
32	Sim et al[6]	2020	Correspondence	The anatomy of panic buying related to the current COVID-19 pandemic		The paper mentioned two episodes of PB in Singapore due to a new alert level set by the local authority and the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The authors found some underlying reasons for PB and suggested some recommendations to facilitate it.
33	Singh et al[34]	2020	Commentary	A critical analysis to comprehend panic buying behaviour of Mumbaikar’sin COVID-19 era		The authors studied different driving factors of PB and suggested how the retailers should adapt inventory when the supply chain is under disruption. They recommended stopping the panic buying so that others can get the share of the products.
34	Turambi et al[35]	2020	Original	Panic buying perception in Waliansatu sub-district, Tomohon City	Online survey	This study analyzed the perception of city dwellers towards PB due to COVID-19. It described different PB episodes that appeared in a city in Indonesia.
35	Yuen et al[7]	2020	Review	The psychological causes of panic buying following a health crisis	Systematic review	It was the first systematic review on PB. The authors identified four major themes responsible for PB.
36	Zheng et al[36]	2020	Original	Supply disruption management under consumer panic buying and social learning effects	Analytical study	The study analyzed how social learning among customers can influence buying decisions when adequate supply is at risk. When the panic intensity is at a moderate level, social learning can help to adjust the consumer demand, but it will work negatively when the panic intensity is very low or very high. The authors also introduced an optimal inventory ordering strategy for retailers.
37	Tsao et al[37]	2019	Original	Product substitution in different weights and brands considering customer segmentation and panic buying behavior	Mathematical model	It proposed a mathematical model for managing wholesaler’s inventory to maximize the profit during PB. The authors suggested substituting the same products of different weights and brands between high- and low-indexed stores during a supply disruption. The model can determine optimal order quantity, the number of substitutable units, leftover units, and the unsated demand to improve the store services.
38	Wei et al[38]	2011	Original	Research on emergency information management based on the social network analysis — A case analysis of panic buying of salt	Data mining	This research studied how to manage information in an emergency analyzing social network to control PB.
39	Fung et al[39]	2010	Original	Disaster preparedness of families with young children in Hong Kong	Survey	This study surveyed households’ heads to explore their perception and preparedness for future disastrous events most likely to occur in Hong Kong. These families experienced PB for necessities during disasters especially for children’s items and drugs.
40	Kulemeka[40]	2010	Commentary	United States consumers and disaster: Observing "panic buying" during the winter storm and hurricane seasons		This article was an update of ongoing research. This article narrated predisaster shopping and claimed that such shoppers do not go for panic buying rather help each other.
41	Bonneux et al[41]	2006	Correspondence	An iatrogenic pandemic of panic		The authors mentioned humans’ overreactions to the perceived threat of a hypothetical pandemic accompanied by clever marketing for the panic buying of antiviral drugs.
42	Thomas[42]	2002	Editorial	Panic buying ahead?		The author highlighted the preparedness for future PB influenced by herd instinct in the semiconductor industry.

CBT: Cognitive behavior therapy; COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019; PB: Panic buying.