Shoppers asking cashiers to stop scanning when bill reaches £30, says Asda chairman

Customers are setting £30 limits as they cut back on spending amid the cost of living crisis, supermarket Asda’s chairman revealed today (22) as inflation in the country touches 40-year-high levels.

Some Asda shoppers are asking cashiers to stop scanning items when the till total hits £30 as they watch their spending,  Lord Stuart Rose said, adding that apart from putting less in their baskets, more customers are switching to budget ranges with people worried about costs.

“What we’re seeing is a massive change in behaviour,” he told BBC.

“People are trading back. They are worried about spending,” he said. “They’ve got a limit that they’ve set out, too. They say £30 is one limit… and if they get to more than £30 then that’s it, stop. It’s the same with petrol.”

It comes after food and fuel costs soar, with UK inflation, the rate at which prices rise, hitting 9.1 percent in May.

Lord Rose said he saw the inflation rise coming last year like a “train coming through a tunnel with a big flashing light on the top. Now it’s time to fasten our seatbelts”, he said.

“I’m of the generation that remembers what it was like last time. And once [inflation] gets hold, it’s quite pernicious,” the veteran retail expert said.

“And it takes a long time to eradicate… We’re in danger of being in a place that it’s very difficult to extricate ourselves from.

“What’s rather sad is that the country, the government, perhaps the Bank of England didn’t see inflation coming quickly. They’ve now recognised that.”

The UK’s third biggest grocer has expanded its cut price groceries with a new range, Just Essentials, covering some 300 products.

Asda reportedly also launched Dropped and Locked, an initiative to lower prices on 100 items and keep them at the same price for the rest of the year.

“We’re doing everything we can. We’ve invested nearly £100m in the last month or so making sure customers get essentials at very, very attractive prices to try and help them,” said Lord Rose.

Lord Rose called on the government to do more to help low income households.

The Asda chairman and former M&S boss said he did not want to predict where food prices will get to by the end of the year but would like to see more government support for those most in need.

“I would urge them to do more for those people at the bottom end of the earnings income scale,” he said. He suggested a VAT reduction or another reduction in fuel tax would be “helpful”.