7 ms·

Care to share the answer you received?

• datacy 7y ago
  Having spoken to the local staff at Waitrose, there is no shortage of supply (as of yet). The shortage comes from them not being able to refill stock from their warehouse fast enough due to the unprecedented demand. They are also constrained by their business model. Supermarket shelf spaces are super competitive and expensive, with many products fighting for exposure. So, they maintain a tight refill schedule, which is difficult to alter in a short time. They also have little capacity to fill all shelf spaces with essentials, as they still have to stock and display certain non-essential items (even if these are not in demand) contractually or otherwise. The general gist of it is that they have enough in the warehouses, and even though they can add 2x more, they are not prepared for every single person stocking up 3 months worth of essentials in one go. In my local Waitrose, they've already limited the purchase of toilet papers to max 2 packs per person and pasta to 3 packs per person. I believe all supermarkets in the UK have already released a statement requesting people to be more considerate when buying essential items, so maybe that will encourage people to not stock up to the extent they are.