In response to the rising cost of living, households are reducing their food purchases.
Due to increasing prices, nearly half of respondents surveyed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported purchasing less food during the last two weeks.
According to the ONS, the price of food was also the most common reason why respondents’ overall monthly expenditures were increasing.
Asda and Tesco have reported that customers are reducing their purchases.
Asda said that some customers are requesting cashiers to stop scanning items when the total reaches £30 as a cost-cutting measure, and are also switching to cheaper product lines.
Tesco, the largest retailer in the United Kingdom, has reported early indications that shoppers are altering their behavior in response to rising inflation, such as purchasing less food and coming more frequently.
The ONS said that feedback from supermarkets indicated that customers were spending less on food purchases due to the growing cost of living.
It was discovered that supermarket sales fell 1.5% in May, while sales in specialty businesses such as butchers and bakers fell 2.2%.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive officer of the British Retail Consortium, stated, “Many customers are shopping down, notably with food, opting for value-range items where they may have previously purchased luxury goods.”
Overall retail sales decreased by 0.5% in May, according to the ONS, which also reduced its April sales growth forecast from 1.4% to 0.4%.
In the United Kingdom, prices continue to grow at the quickest rate in forty years, with inflation at 9.1%, the highest level since March 1982.
On Thursday, the RAC disclosed that the average price of a liter of petrol reached £1.90 for the first time, while diesel approached £2 per liter.
Bread, cereal, and meat prices rose in May, causing the most recent increase in inflation. However, fuel and energy costs are the largest contributors to inflation.
Sarah Coles, the senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, stated that the “horror” of April’s enormous increase in energy bills “ate up a considerably larger portion” of household income and “restrained their purchasing appetite.”
She continued, “It’s not just the threat of even greater bills tomorrow and the fear of an approaching recession that might lead our finances to completely unravel that are causing us concern.
The most apparent proof of the impact of the rising cost of living on our household finances is the fact that we are eating less.
The fact that it is food, a requirement for everyone, demonstrates how daily life is affected, as opposed to fewer vacations or less socializing.
By autumn and winter, the attention may shift to individuals using less home heating. Nonetheless, whether it’s heating, dining, or both, consumers will continue to hunt for ways to minimize their expenditures.
