Figures from Edge by Ascential demonstrate the unprecedented demand that UK grocers have faced over the past month, as shopper behaviour has moved from top-up shopping to bulk-buying and stockpiling. This has led to high levels of out-of-stocks across ambient grocery, soap and household essentials.

Coronavirus average out of stocks

The surge in demand for items began around one month ago, from mid-February, as seen by the increase in average out-of-stocks.

From an average out-of-stock level of 1.3% on February 25, panic buying and the difficulty of restocking shelves amid such intense demand has led to out-of-stock levels across the major grocers reaching 11.6% by March 18. 

Coronavirus top 20 categories

The categories most under pressure are can be seen from this chart. Rice tops the list, followed by soap and toilet tissue. But other ambient and frozen categories have also seen an unprecedented surge in demand, leading to out-of-stocks as shoppers stockpile at home in case of illness or the need for self-isolation.

Coronavirus unavailability by grocer

UK grocers have continued throughout to work closely with their suppliers to bring more goods into the supply chain, while at the same time rationing item sales across key lines.

Data from Edge indicates that Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose have seen the most out-of-stocks since Britain entered the ‘delay’ phase of the government’s action plan. Sainsbury’s has seen fluctuations in its stock availability. Meanwhile, Asda appears to be coping best with the increase, at least from an online perspective.

Aldi was the first UK supermarket chain to ration the sale of all products, bringing in the drastic measure on March 15. Every Aldi customer is restricted to purchasing four of any item, with nappies, toilet roll and kitchen roll limited to two per person.

Tesco has implemented a three-item limit on all products and axed all multibuy promotions.

Sainsbury’s has placed restrictions of three items per customer on any groceries, and two per customer on in-demand products such as toilet paper and long-life UHT milk.

Waitrose began to place limits on purchases from March 19, including caps on purchases of toilet paper.

Managing director of paper manufacturer Kimberly-Clark in the UK and Ireland Ori Ben Shai told Retail Week that the company is working closely with retailers and charities to ensure people can get what they need.

“We want to reassure people that Kimberly-Clark is accelerating production of Andrex, Huggies and Kleenex products at its UK mills and, just as importantly, the number of delivery trucks to retailers to ensure there is a steady supply of our products,” he said.

“As we’ve all seen, demand has increased, but we are all working to replenish shelves as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, retailers are reducing opening hours at their stores to allow more time to restock the shelves and dedicating exclusive opening hours for elderly and vulnerable shoppers, as well as for NHS staff.

In support of these efforts, the big four retailers are creating additional temporary roles to help them cope with soaring demand during the pandemic.