Low-income families are missing out on the chance to pick up supermarkets’ lowest-priced essentials as fewer than 1% of the leading chains’ smaller stores stock them, according to a study.
The consumer group Which? dispatched mystery shoppers to hunt for a list of about 30 items under the cut-price own-label ranges in Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons stores, including apples, beef mince, tinned tomatoes, rice and instant coffee.
On average, the biggest supermarket stores had 87% of the products researchers were looking for, or an equivalent product in the same range.
However, in small Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s Local and Morrisons Daily convenience stores, the budget own-label items on Which?’s list were available less than 1% of the time. Asda does not have a large number of small stores and so it was not included in that part of the study.
Of the 35 small stores from the three chains visited across the country by Which?’s mystery shoppers, 30 did not have in stock any of the budget-range items on the list. The remaining five stores only stocked one item from the list each.
Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation lobby group, said: “We know that a great many people are really struggling at the moment, with food insecurity among children having doubled in the past year.
“Low-income families simply can’t afford to travel to the larger supermarkets and are forced by their environments into using smaller stores. A Food Foundation survey in January found that 78% of lower-income households said they’d like retailers to make budget ranges available in every store.”
Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which?, added: “At a time when millions of people are struggling to put food on the table, it’s shocking that budget-range foods are not available to people who can’t get to a large supermarket.
“Which? is now calling on supermarket bosses to ensure budget ranges that support a healthy diet are available in convenience stores, especially in areas where people are struggling the most.”
As part of the research, Which? included three parliamentary constituencies where people are seen as the most vulnerable to food insecurity in the UK, and where more than half of supermarkets are small stores: Don Valley in Yorkshire, North West Durham in the north-east, and Rhondda, in Wales.
Across these three areas, Which? made 12 visits to four small stores and found that none of the items on the list of budget essentials were available in any of these stores.
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Morrisons said its Savers budget range had “never been more important to our customers”. It said it had cut prices and broadened the Savers range and believed that customers appreciated its value and availability more than ever.
A spokesperson for Tesco said: “With household budgets under continued pressure, we remain absolutely focused on providing great value and are committed to giving our customers consistent, reliable prices, whether they shop in our large stores, online, or at one of our Express convenience stores.
“Our Express stores do not have the shelf space to accommodate all the product ranges available in our larger stores, so we use our expert knowledge of local customers’ shopping habits to make sure the ranges in each store best meet local tastes and needs. We are disappointed to see this highly flawed study from Which? that does not accurately reflect the role of convenience stores and does not provide any helpful information for customers who are shopping on a budget.”
Sainsbury’s declined to comment.
