Asda shoppers setting £30 limits at tills as inflation hits 9.1%

theguardian.com:

Shoppers at Asda are setting themselves £30 limits at checkouts and petrol pumps, the supermarket’s boss says, as consumers tighten their belts because of the cost of living crisis.

Customers are employing several tactics to not overspend, said Stuart Rose, including putting fewer items in their baskets and opting for budget ranges.

“What we’re seeing is a massive change in behaviour,” he told the BBC. “People are trading back. They are worried about spending. 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.”

Lord Rose’s comments came as inflation continued to climb, hitting 9.1% in May – the highest rate in 40 years, amid record petrol prices and soaring food costs.

The chair of the UK’s third largest grocer said he could see last year that a jump in inflation was coming like a “train coming through a tunnel with a big flashing light on the top”.

The retail veteran, who previously led Marks & Spencer, Argos and Topshop, has been critical of government attempts to help households cope with the cost of living crisis, and called on ministers to do more.

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

Recalling the runaway inflation of the 1970s, Rose said the current rise in prices had been a nasty shock for consumers.

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