Tesco have joined Aldi and Morrisons by rationing some items in their stores, after fears of a second national lockdown has prompted some shoppers to start stockpiling essentials.
In March supermarket shelves were left empty as shoppers stockpiled the likes of toilet roll, pasta, flour, hand sanitiser and disinfectant.
Morrisons were the first supermarket to reintroduce limits on some products. The supermarket chain said on Thursday it had set a purchase limit of three on most cleaning products as well as kitchen roll and Calpol to ensure they were “available for everyone”. Morrisons is also limiting sales of flour, rice and oil sold in its world foods aisle, which tend to come in larger pack sizes.
Sales of toilet rolls have soared by 23% over the past week, according to one supplier to major supermarkets, while shoppers have also been picking up extra tinned goods, pasta and pain relief tablets.
Tesco CEO Dave Lewis said panic buying is “unnecessary” and added that it only “creates a tension in the supply chain”. Tesco have started rationing toilet toll, with some customers saying there is a limit of just one pack per customer.
Meanwhile, Aldi have also started to set buying restrictions on certain things, limiting the amount of items a customer can buy.
Giles Hurley, the chief executive of Aldi UK, wrote to customers, saying: “There is no need to buy more than you usually would. I would like to reassure you that our stores remain fully stocked and ask that you continue to shop considerately.”
