The first wave of the coronavirus in 2020 created not only serious disruption in retail, which primarily caused both a general increase in e-commerce and intensified a sense of insecurity among a large part of the public. The public reaction – excessive stockpiling and panic-motivated buying – is characteristic of times of deep crisis. The C19 crisis proved that supplies of essential goods are not infinite, even in highly industrially developed and wealthy countries. The general insecurity, and even fear, triggered another situation characteristic of a severe economic crisis: a sharp increase in people's desire to invest in "hard" assets. During the crisis, there was also an increase in demand for gold and other precious metals for investment purposes. For example, in the largest German online precious metal stores, sales more than doubled in 2020 – >110%.