Iceland's managing director claims shoppers are asking cashiers to stop scanning items when they reach a certain total as the cost of living crisis continues to bite. Richard Walker, managing director of the Deeside-based frozen food chain, also said that the price of food had already risen by well over 10% on some items.
Appearing on Times Radio discussing how the shopping behaviours of customers had changed in the supermarket as a result of increased cost of living, Mr Walker also said that customers were buying less items. Speaking to presenters Lucy Fisher and Stig Abell, he said: "One interesting metric we often measure is units per basket and we are noticing that people are starting to manage inflation by putting less items in their basket.
"The other thing I’m learning is when people are getting to the till they’re asking the cashier when it gets to £40 to stop and they stop putting items on the conveyor belt, people are definitely very conscious of the price of things."
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The director said the cost of food across all major supermarkets has already risen, and forecasted it would continue to do so. He said: "What we are seeing, when you consider the demographic that we serve, is that inflation as a medium is 7 percent or 8 percent on food but actually it is much higher than that if you do not have any money to spare.
"If you think of the price of milk that has gone up significantly. It was £1 a year ago and now it has gone up to £1.29 across all of our competitors. So while medium inflation is 7%, it is probably double digits already, especially for basic goods."
Mr Walker also said that the company have decided to price freeze some items, despite it hitting their margins - meaning they anticipate making "much less money this year", but that it is "the right thing to do for our customers".
This week the frozen food chain launched a discount for over 60s, which the director said had been "well received" by customers. Speaking of the launch he said: "We are losing customers to foodbanks, that is a reality. If you’ve got £25 a week to spend on food then there are choices between heating and eating for some people."
The discount that could see shoppers get 10% off their groceries, with no minimum spend. It is available in-store at Iceland and The Food Warehouse branches on Tuesdays. Iceland said the move is in response to research from Age UK, which showed three-quarters of older people worry about the rising cost of living.
