As panic buying resumes, this is how we’re helping customers navigate supermarket shopping

Morrisons has become the first supermarket to reimpose limits on how many items one customer can buy. This was first introduced back in April when the pandemic – and panic buying – meant many supermarket shelves were left bare or half empty.

With the restrictions coming around again, running parallel to local lockdown rules, it brings back those “last days of Rome feelings” that we had just managed to shake off.

Tesco and Aldi this week joined Morrisons in applying limits on products like toilet roll and disinfectant. Customers will be limited to buying only three of these types of products per shop.

The supermarkets are adamant that this time around – even if a second national lockdown is imposed – there won’t be shortages of essential items. But panic buying would still put strain on the supply chain.

Statements urging us to shop more considerately have not stopped some going into full stockpiling mode, again. Photos of empty supermarket shelves are doing the rounds on social media too, which serves to fuel the panic.

During the height of lockdown, while many people struggled to get online deliveries, or couldn’t make it to the shops, many people bought more than they needed. Pasta was hard to come by, as was flour (for that all-important banana bread) and toilet roll, while Dettol and other essentials were near-impossible to find. Popping to the shops was no longer a simple task, instead, it was a near military operation which meant queuing and having a very limited choice.

As supermarket delivery slots became like gold dust, we created a guide of all the information customers needed on IndyBest, such as whether online delivery slots were available.

This week, that piece has become increasingly popular and we have begun updating it daily once more. But, just like the supermarket statements, we’re urging people not to stockpile. There is enough to go round and ignoring the advice only leaves the most vulnerable people struggling to get hold of essentials.  

Yours,

Emma Henderson

IndyBest editor