COVID-19 – shopper research focusing on availability and stockpiling – 06 -08...
09 August 2021Higher availability concerns
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Despite the operational challenges due to increased number of employees being advised to...
Higher availability concerns
Despite the operational challenges due to increased number of employees being advised to self-isolate, there are sufficient food supplies within the system and the impact on availability has been limited to date.
In the latest shopper research conducted for IGD over this last weekend 06-08 August 2021, more shoppers are experiencing availability issues for some food and grocery categories.
56% of adults claim to have experienced shortages of some food and groceries in-store or online recently up from 48% last weekend.
There have been changes in claimed shortages by region. Concern is now highest in Northern Ireland (74%), London (63%) and the North East (61%).
Claimed shortages remain highest for fresh produce (27% vs 17% last week). Other higher-ranking categories include fresh meat or fish (16%), dairy (13%), tins and packaged foods, soft drinks (11% each), bakery and household paper (10% each).
Higher stockpiling
More adults (32%) have recently felt the need to stock up or purchase more than they normally, up from 27% last weekend. This is still relatively low (50% in January’21 and a high of 64% in April’20).
A third (34%) say they will or might stock up. This has remained stable compared to last weekend (33%). However, this is still lower than in Jan’21 (45%) and March’20 (60%).
Stockpiling is highest among 18-24s (45%), those with children at home (38%), ABs (43%) and those living in London (48%).
Category differences
The table above shows that the top categories that are being stocked up (tins and packaged foods & household paper (13% each)) are also in the top categories that shoppers claim to be in short supply. However, other top categories being stockpiled are not in the top categories in short supply i.e., hand sanitiser (10%), medicines and household products (8% each).
Government action
The government has put in place a number of measures to help resolve absence issues in England resulting from employees being advised to self-isolate for up to 10 days, following notification from the Test and Trace App that they had been in close contact with someone reporting a positive COVID-19 test result.
Changes to the app ‘logic’ - Fewer contacts will be notified by the NHS COVID-19 app if someone tests positive. The app will now look back at contacts two days prior to an asymptomatic positive test rather than five. See here for more details
Daily contact testing is being rolled out to critical workplaces at supermarket depots and food manufacturers’ sites. It will comprise around 500 food supply chain sites in England. It will mean that workers who are alerted by the app or contacted by NHS Test and Trace will be able to continue working if they test negative, whether or not they are vaccinated. Further details are available by contacting DEFRA
Reasonable excuse for named individuals - In the small number of situations where the self-isolation of close contacts would result in serious disruption to critical services, a limited number of named workers may be able to leave self-isolation under specific controls for the purpose of undertaking critical work only. Further details are available here. The government has provided updated guidance on how to request a ‘reasonable excuse’ letter. See here for more details
DEFRA is keeping under review absence levels in all parts of the food supply chain and is requesting businesses complete this absence tracking survey as frequently as possible.
All adults who have been fully vaccinated will no longer have to self-isolate if they are identified as close contacts of someone with COVID-19 from the following dates:
Wales 7 August
Scotland 9 August
England 16 August
The Northern Ireland Executive is due to meet to look at requirements for self-isolating.
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