Customers are changing their spending habit due to the price of food and fuel as the cost of living crisis continues to grip the nation.
ASDA chairman, Lord Stuart Rose, has said consumers are making changes on petrol forecourts and at supermarket tills in a bid to save money, by imposing spending limits.
The boss described a "massive change" in customers' behaviour as he called on the UK government to do more to help low-income households.
Supermarket giant Asda said earlier this week that some shoppers were asking cashiers to stop scanning items when the till total hits £30 to cut costs. Leader of the Asda Group Board and chairman, Lord Stuart Rose, told the BBC : "People are trading back, they are worried about spending. They've got a limit that they've set out, too. They say £30 is one limit and if they get to more than £30 then that's it, stop. It's the same with petrol."
According to the latest data from Kantar, the average annual grocery bill is on course to rise by £380. Lord Rose pointed out that people have also altered their consumer habits.
With supermarket prices hitting a 13-year high and fuel prices rocketing, the cost of living crisis is biting ordinary households. Manchester Evening News reported that the Asda chairman said many people won't remember the inflation of the 1970s and the current rise in prices has come as a shock to many.
He added: "I'm of the generation that remembers what it was like last time. And once [inflation] gets hold, it's quite pernicious." He went on to say that some people are heading to self-checkouts to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to pay.
The average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts reached a new high of 189.3p on Tuesday, according to data firm Experian. The average price of diesel was 197.1p per litre. The rate of inflation rose again in May, remaining at 40-year highs and deepening the squeeze felt by households across the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
