The boss of Iceland has told of the ongoing impact of the cost of living crisis on the supermarket’s customers.
Richard Walker, managing director of the chain, spoke of shoppers being forced to abandon items at the till because they found they couldn’t afford them. The CEO also said that instances of shoplifting are increasing as people struggle to scrape together enough cash to feed themselves and their families, The Mirror reports.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Walker said: “Some of [our customers] are really struggling. They were struggling before this cost of living crisis - now you can only think as bills are going up.”
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He went on: “We see and feel and hear that on a daily basis. Stories of customers leaving items at the till, and telling the cashier when to stop when it gets to a certain amount.
“We’ve got things like shoplifting on the rise, people looking for value ranges,” Mr Walker added. “It’s very real, and it’s going to get tougher as we get into the winter months.”
Presenter Laura Kuenssberg later challenged the Iceland boss on the salaries of the supermarket’s staff. Mr Walker argued that the company did not have enough money to give workers a pay rise that would lift their earnings above minimum wage.
He told Laura: “We've been voted best company to work for by our staff twice, and yet now we pay minimum wage at £9.50. I'm not proud of that and I wish we could pay more, but the reality is to pay £10.90, the Real Living Wage, would cost us £50m, and that's money we don't have.”
Mr Walker added that Iceland is looking to give its workers “as big a pay rise as we can possibly afford”. Several of the UK’s major supermarkets have given their shop floor employees pay rises this year, including M&S, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Lidl.
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