What the wealthy are buying to protect themselves from the coronavirus

A $4,995 emergency kit bag and a $149.95 air-purifying necklace among the wellness survival products being snapped up

Quiet city streets in Brussels as people avoid public spaces due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Reuters

Some people have found a measure of reassurance in these coronavirus days by stocking up on hand sanitiser and toilet paper. For others, peace comes with the purchase of a $4,995 (Dh18,344) emergency go-bag, outfitted with “Bond-like gadgets” and custom monogramming.

Others are buying a $149.95 “virus-eliminating” personal air purifier that is worn as a necklace. Or a $99.95 Sanitised Sleeper’s Safe Haven, a bedtime cocoon made from “patented antimicrobial fabric that kills nearly 100 per cent of bacteria, fungi and viruses".

These items are part of a cornucopia of survival products that float at the luxury end of the burgeoning $4.5 trillion wellness market. As the pandemic spreads, they are sold out or on back order, or otherwise in short supply. Just like toilet paper.

“Our warehouse shelves are almost wiped out,” says Ryan Kuhlman, co-founder of Preppi, maker of high-end disaster kits including the go-bag, which comes with four hard-to-obtain N95 respirator masks. Preppi’s sales so far this month have increased 5,000 per cent compared to February. “Having the right tools and supplies can provide incredible relief to anxieties,” Mr Kuhlman said.

Capital markets may be going haywire with events constantly being postponed or cancelled, but for makers of products that cater to rich people nervous about exposure to a deadly illness, products cannot be replenished quickly enough.

The granddaddy of pricey-gadget peddlers is Hammacher Schlemmer. The retailer stocks a range of defences such as the “Virus, Mould and Germ Destroying Air and Surface Sanitiser,” which for $399.95 promises to zap nasty microbes from your living room using technology similar to that Nasa employs to purify its space shuttles.

In the days before coronavirus, the item was billed mainly as a mould fighter. And although it was always meant to fight viruses, the company added the v-word to it and some other products to grab the attention of agitated shoppers, not to mention internet search algorithms.

“We strengthened the title to aid consumers in their search,” said Ann Marie Resnick, the company’s vice president of marketing.

It certainly seems to be working. Sales of some Hammacher personal care items are up as much as 500 per cent, according to Ms Resnick.

“It just went boom,” she said. “Everyone needs an air purifier for the home. You’ll need more than one.”

Coronavirus-related spending is most prevalent among higher-income consumers, according to Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, and those people need everyday items as well.

If regular hand sanitisers are considered too gloopy for well-manicured hands, there is Touchland – a spray-on sanitiser ($12 for 38.5ml) whose packaging looks modelled on a mini-iPhone. It contains moisturisers, essential oils and something called Glycereth-26, which the company says is “an awesome humectant”. A bonus is the fact that it smells like watermelon or lavender or other fragrances, rather than, not ethyl alcohol. The only problem is that it's sold out.

"It's been a little bit crazy," said Andrea Lisbona, 34, Touchland founder and chief executive.

Lisbona said she had just returned to the US from the company’s factory in Mexico, which is ramping up production to get Touchland into the unsanitised hands of the 25,000 customers on its waiting list.

“Until three weeks ago, this product was essentially a fashion statement,” said Alexander Chernev, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “Now, things have changed.”

Turns out, if you want something that is both fancy and functional, you might have to wait – no matter what tax bracket you are in.