The old joke goes that north Londoners need a passport to head south of the river — in fact, they just need a love of juicing, dogs, Charles Dickens and Rolos to fit in.
That’s according to Amazon, Britain’s biggest online store, which has for the first time broken down its London sales according to whether orders stem from postcodes in the north, south, east or west of the capital.
Its findings, exclusive to the Standard, reinforce some stereotypes: “yummy mummy” north London saw sales of Huggies baby wipes, Pampers nappies and anti-stretch mark Bio-Oil all soar in the first three months of this year. Hamsters also seem to be popular as pellet food for the pets is a bestseller.
South London lived up its reputation for luring the young: most-ordered reads were start-up bible Have You Got The Why “Y” Factor by Ayo Olaseinde and Face by Benjamin Zephaniah, along with Dickens’s Great Expectations. Bestsellers included yoga mats, Jillian Michaels’s 30 Day Shred DVD, Davina McCall’s Fit in 15 DVD, resistance bands, drinks bottles and fruit juicers. However, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut, Rolos and Nestlé Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bars were also more popular, as were dog treats.
East London’s hairy hipsters boosted demand for beard-trimmers, with the Remington MB320C Barba Beard Trimmer a bestseller. Amazon also reported: “Knitting is more popular in east London than anywhere else in London with knitting yarn appearing twice in the bestseller list.”
Canary Wharf’s towerblock residents and workers put business books top of the list for E14, including Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter, Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In — and US fraudster Jordan Belfort’s memoir The Wolf of Wall Street, which inspired the film with Leonardo diCaprio. Perhaps for some respite, Canary Wharf also put in heavy orders for The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Residents in west London bought the most mineral water in the capital. Perrier and Icelandic Glacial Water are on the bestseller list alongside Bollinger Champagne and Menabrea Beer.
Slazenger tennis balls are in high-demand, as are Egyptian cotton towels, Orchid Myst flower food, coffee machine capsules and US bunting, possibly because of the area’s high number of American expats.
Cats seem to be the most popular pets in the west, judging by pet food sales. Most-ordered books include Susan Hill’s I’m the King of the Castle, Shadow by Michael Morpurgo and Remember When by J.D. Robb and Nora Roberts.
DVDs of Game of Thrones and Disney’s Frozen were top-sellers everywhere.
