Labour shortages impacting availability – shopper research 21-23 January 2022
25 January 2022Shopper research highlights how labour and HGV driver shortages disrupt food supply chains, affecting product availability and shopper behaviour today.
Availability issues
Operational labour and HGV driver shortages continue to disrupt food supply chains. Although there are some regional variations, absence rates within the food and consumer goods industry due to the Omicron variant remain largely manageable and are starting to decline. Food and consumer goods businesses have been hit hard by recruitment and retention challenges. This is resulting in lower order fulfilment levels than normal, meaning there is an impact on availability of some food and groceries.
The government has committed to a package of support including the issuing of temporary visas for HGV drivers. Please see our latest Viewpoint report for more insight.
In the latest shopper research conducted for IGD over this last weekend 21-23 January 2021:
Slightly fewer are reporting availability issues. 63% experienced shortages of some food and groceries in-store or online recently, compared to 68% two weeks ago.
Slightly fewer have recently felt the need to stock up or purchase more than they normally do (37% vs 38%).
There has been a slight fall in in numbers saying they will or might stock up (39% vs 42%).
See the full results to understand:
