Stuart Rose, the former Chief Executive of M&S and current Chairman of Ocado, has joined other industry leaders in stressing that consumers do not need to panic as there is no shortage of food in the UK.
Rose has been in self-isolation for the last couple of weeks after suspecting he had contracted the coronavirus. Speaking to BBC radio yesterday, he said: “The first thing is don’t panic. There isn’t going to be no food tomorrow. Nobody will starve.”
With reports of long queues outside supermarkets in recent days following the introduction of social distancing measures, Rose suggested people should avoid going to stores at peak hours and only buy what they need.
He also called on people to “make your meals work” and not to waste anything. “You can make a relatively small amount of food go a long way and I think we live in a very profligate society today – we buy too much, we eat too much, we consume too much and we have to learn new ways.”
Ocado has been operating at capacity during the crisis with around ten times more demand for its services than it had before the outbreak began.
Data released by Nielsen on Wednesday showed grocery sales at UK supermarkets during the week ending 14 March jumped 22% year-on-year. This compared to an 8% increase in the previous week and is equal to additional purchases worth £467m as consumers stocked up amid the coronavirus crisis.
Household and pet care items saw the biggest increase (65%) in sales compared to the same period last year. This was closely followed by ambient groceries, which saw sales increase by 62%, whilst health, beauty, toiletries and babycare items rose by 46%.
