// Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts has warned that the cost of living will become more expensive
// The retailer is investing £500m to keep prices of essentials low for hard-pressed shoppers
Sainsbury’s is set to invest £500million into cutting the cost of essential items including milk, eggs, meat, fish, fruit and vegetables as boss Simon Roberts warns the cost-of-living crisis will worsen.
Sainsbury’s said its price investment will focus on essential items, such as milk, eggs, meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, and key household products.
The investment will fund its Price Lock campaign, which commits to holding the price of more than 1,800 items for at least eight weeks.
Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts told PA: “Customers are making choices about where they spend money based on their household finances right now so we have to make it easy for them to manage their budget in our shops.
“They are increasingly concerned about their spending and we want them to know we recognise that and are doing everything we can.”
READ MORE: From Tesco to Superdrug: how retailers are tackling the big pricing problem
Roberts warned that the cost-of-living crisis will get worse before it gets better.
He told The Daily Mail: “The effects of this are going to last longer than I am sure most people expected months ago.
‘The price of food, fuel, fertiliser and labour have all gone up. We are seeing substantial cost impacts and they are not going to go away tomorrow.”
Roberts acknowledged that some of these rising costs “take time to work through”.
But he said factors including the rising costs of staff, fuel, fertiliser and production ‘take time to work through’.
“We have to work hard to make sure we hold back as much of the impact from customers as possible,” Roberts added.
Sainsbury’s is not alone in investing in price. Rival Tesco has added 100 products to its Low Everyday Prices range this month and has expanded its Aldi Price Match promotion.
Grocery prices rose 7% year on year, according to the latest Kantar data, this is the fastest rate for 13 years.
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