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Consumers experiencing food shortages and considering stockpiling has increased over the past week.

Research conducted by IGD on 8-10 October revealed an increase in the number of adults experiencing shortages of food and groceries in-store or online.

The survey found 67% of adults claimed to have experienced shortages, up from 62% on the previous weekend.

Categories most affected were fresh produce (25%), followed by dairy, fresh meat or fish (both 19%), soft drinks (18%), tins and packaged foods (17%) with concerns highest in London (76%), Scotland (73%) South West (73%) and South East (72%).

Availability vs Stockpiling

Stockpiling

IGD also reported an increase in the number of adults who have recently felt the need to stock up or purchase more than they normally do (34% vs 27% the previous weekend) however this is still relatively low compared to 50% in January 2021 and a high of 64% in April 2020.

There has also been an increase in the number who say they will or might stock up (40% compared to 34%). This is still much lower than the 60% recorded in March 2020.

IGD found that the top categories that are being stocked up are tins and packaged foods (13%) and household paper (10%). These are followed by hand sanitizer (7%), household products and dairy (6%).

Recent research by Lumina Intelligence found that one-in-three consumers are planning to stockpile for Christmas before the end of October.