Middle classes were worst stockpilers, says Tesco boss

THE middle classes in the south of England were most to blame for stockpiling, Tesco’s boss has suggested, as its data revealed it was less of an issue elsewhere in Britain.

Shoppers spent more than they did at Christmas, filling cupboards and freezers as pandemic panic took a grip.

Tesco sales leapt by a third as shoppers began to stockpile, with Londoners the most prolific hoarders.

Dave Lewis, Tesco’s chief executive, said: “These buyers tended to be more affluent customers, and while we saw uplifts everywhere, the biggest uplifts were in the south of England. We saw some very interesting behaviours in the stockpiling.”

His remarks echoed those of Richard Walker, boss of Iceland Foods, who said last month: “Not everyone can afford to stockpile.”

Tesco said that it was still unable to meet the demand for home deliveries, even though it had increased delivery slots by 20 per cent.

Online customers had to wait in hours-long queues to simply make a booking – with waiting times for delivery about a month away.

Waitrose yesterday appealed customers to shop in-store if possible, so that those who could not leave home would be better served.

Panic buying began to tail off as the country moved into lockdown, according to Tesco. In its peak week, it sold 3.1 million bottles of liquid soap – a fourfold increase; double the number of tinned tomatoes, at 3.3 million; 3.6 million lavatory roll packs, up 76 per cent; and 6 million tins of beans, double

‘These buyers tended to be more affluent customers… the biggest uplifts were in the south of England’

the usual amount. Mr Lewis said the stockpiling had been driven by a small percentage of shoppers with 10 per cent of customers buying a third of goods, while a third of customers accounted for 60 per cent of bulk-buying.

To improve availability of groceries, supermarkets restricted the number of items customers could buy and ditched promotions to help manage demand.

Morrisons said it was to begin working with Deliveroo, the takeaway firm, to allow shoppers to order up to 70 essential items, which would be delivered to their doorstep in as little as 30 minutes for a flat £4.99 fee.