// Asda chairman says customers are setting £30 for their groceries as inflation hits 9.1% – its highest rate in 40 years
// The retail veteran said he could see last year that a jump in inflation was coming like a “train coming through a tunnel with a big flashing light on the top”
The chairman of Asda has said that some shoppers are setting £30 limits as they cut back on spending amid the current cost of living crisis.
Lord Stuart Rose said customers at the supermarket are putting fewer items in their baskets and choosing from budget ranges more often as they try to mitigate price increases as UK inflation hits 9.1% as prices rise at their fastest rate for 40 years.
“What we’re seeing is a massive change in behaviour,” he told the BBC.
“People are trading back. They are worried about spending. They’ve got a limit that they’ve set out, too. They say £30 is one limit … and if they get to more than £30 then that’s it, stop. It’s the same with petrol.”
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The chair of the UK’s third largest grocer said he could see last year that a jump in inflation was coming like a “train coming through a tunnel with a big flashing light on the top”.
The retail boss, who previously led Marks & Spencer, Argos and Topshop, has been critical of government attempts to help households cope with the cost of living crisis, and has called for more to be done.
“I would urge them to do more for those people at the bottom end of the earnings income scale,” he said, suggesting a VAT reduction or another reduction in fuel tax would be “helpful”.
Rose has previously told the Guardian he expected inflationary pressures to last into 2023.
Asda was deciding to what extent it could absorb rising costs, he said, and how much it would need to pass on to shoppers, as it competed with other supermarkets to win consumers.
“We’re doing everything we can. We’ve invested nearly £100m in the last month or so making sure customers get essentials at very, very attractive prices to try and help them,” Rose said.
He said the government was walking a tightrope as it tried to combat rising prices while not denting economic growth. Yet, he said, bringing down inflation was the “most important priority”.
“Once inflation gets embedded, it’s very, very hard to kill. If it means we have to slow the economy down for a while, and it looks as if we are heading for a recession, then so be it.”
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