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Coronavirus: Can you stop people panic buying? Coronavirus: What are shops doing about stockpiling?
(2 days later)
Around the UK, shoppers are emptying shelves as fears grow over the spread of coronavirus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged shoppers to be sensible when buying food. His comments come after shoppers have been emptying shelves around the UK following the coronavirus outbreak.
Supermarkets are urging people not to buy more than they need, but can panic-buying be controlled? So can panic-buying be controlled and what are supermarkets doing to restock shelves?
How many people are panic-buying?How many people are panic-buying?
Social media is full of reports of empty shop shelves, and some supermarkets have begun restricting the sale of certain goods. Social media is full of reports of empty shop shelves, with similar scenes in countries such as Australia and the US.
Items including toilet paper, hand sanitiser, pasta and tinned foods are among the items that have been in short supply. At the moment, we don't have any official data on the scale of stockpiling in the UK. However, we do know some supermarkets are restricting customers from bulk-buying certain products - due to high demand.
Similar scenes have been seen in countries such as Australia and the US. Across different supermarkets, this includes:
What else are supermarkets doing?
Tesco, the Co-op and Waitrose say they are introducing restrictions on people buying more than a certain number of particular products, but would not comment on supply chain plans.
Sainsbury's acknowledges there are currently some gaps on shelves, but says it has ordered more stock of essential items from its suppliers and, "other than a small number of exceptions", they believe they will have regular stock back on the shelves soon.
A spokesperson said the supermarket had also increased staffing at its warehouses and distribution centres, the number of lorries on the road delivering products to stores, and the number of its online delivery drivers so it can add in more online slots.
Morrisons said it would increase the number of delivery slots by recruiting 2,500 extra pickers and drivers. It's also introducing a range of food parcels for order.
Marks and Spencer was not able to comment, and Lidl, Aldi and Waitrose have not yet responded.
The British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarkets, says they have had "well-rehearsed" contingency plans in place for years - since the Sars outbreak in 2003.
"Supply chains are robust and we are getting food in," a spokesperson said.
What is the government saying?
The government has said there is no reason for anybody to stockpile.The government has said there is no reason for anybody to stockpile.
Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "I am confident we have fantastic supply chains. It is very important that everybody should behave responsibly and think about others." Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said: "We are absolutely confident our supply chains are working, and will work, and we will get farm to fork food supplies.
Public Health England has said that people should plan ahead and think what they will need if they have to self-isolate for seven days. "Therefore people should have no reason to stockpile or panic buy."
Public Health England has said that people should plan ahead and think what they will need if they have to self-isolate for at least seven days.
The advice is that they should ask friends or family to drop off anything they need or order supplies online. Any deliveries should be left outside their homes.The advice is that they should ask friends or family to drop off anything they need or order supplies online. Any deliveries should be left outside their homes.
What can the government do? However, the government's powers to deal with this situation are so far untested, according to Paul Dobson, from the University of East Anglia.
This is a new situation, so the government's powers to deal with it are so far untested, according to Paul Dobson, from the University of East Anglia.
But he said he expected the government would speak to supermarkets to secure a series of voluntary agreements on issues around supply, and limiting panic buying.But he said he expected the government would speak to supermarkets to secure a series of voluntary agreements on issues around supply, and limiting panic buying.
"The government could have quite a useful co-ordinating role, and I think that's what's needed in the market to produce some stability," he said. Supermarket delivery hours were extended earlier in March to help shops remain stocked.
And that appears to be the approach that the government is taking.
What are shops doing?
A group of 12 major supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Lidl and Iceland have written a letter to their customers asking them to be "considerate in the way they shop".
"Buying more than is needed can sometimes mean others will be left without," they said, and added that they were working with government and suppliers to keep shelves stocked.
As well as this overall plea, supermarkets have introduced sales restrictions on some items.
The situation is changing but, at the time of writing, Tesco has been limiting shoppers to buying no more than five of certain goods including anti-bacterial gels, wipes and sprays, dried pasta, UHT milk and some tinned vegetables.
Waitrose brought in a temporary cap on some items on its website, including some anti-bacterial soaps and wipes.
Boots and Asda have both restricted some types of hand sanitiser to two bottles per person.
When will products be back on the shelves?
"Whilst there might be empty shelves at the moment in the shops, over the next week or so, we will see them replenish," Andrew Potter, from Cardiff Business School, told the BBC.
"The supply chain will start to deliver stuff through to the stores and hopefully this shortage - which is fairly short term - will clear and everything will be back to normal again."
Jan Godsell, from the University of Warwick, also said that the initial spike in demand is likely to be short-lived.
She said people bought items like toilet paper and pasta to stockpile but then were likely to stop buying.
She said the "unknown" factor was labour, questioning what would happen if 20% of the workforce was taken ill, a situation the government has factored into its plans.
"Then we might need to make some decisions about where in our supply chain we use those [people]," she said.
The Competition and Markets Authority watchdog has warned retailers not to "exploit" fears about coronavirus by dramatically increasing the price of protective goods like hand gels and face masks.The Competition and Markets Authority watchdog has warned retailers not to "exploit" fears about coronavirus by dramatically increasing the price of protective goods like hand gels and face masks.
The government could also relax competition rules to enable greater co-ordination between supermarkets.
What could the next steps be?
Retail analyst Bruno Monteyne said a tipping point could come if or when the virus "really breaks through" and the number of people off work increases well above the number of people who are sick.
"When kids have to stay home, many parents will have one person staying at home," he said. "Equally, if somebody is ill, a family member will likely stay with him or her".
"When you have labour absences, then you reduce the food-retail capacity. Everything is ultimately linked to staff members: numbers of drivers to drive the trucks to the stores, number of shelf fillers to fill the shelf, number of check out people to do check outs. So a 10% absence rate, means a 10% capacity reduction."
If the virus outbreak gets to the stage where "capacity is materially reduced to maintain food supply", retailers would enter into a "feed the nation" phase by reducing ranges.
"But none of that will go smoothly. Mistakes will be made, trucks will be late, some stores will run empty, and that is when there is a risk of a real panic breaking out," he said.
"That is the moment that the army would step in and be accompanying the trucks and support food distribution and stop food riots from happening," Mr Monteyne added.