Brexit means milk is a bargain but dental floss costs you
British grocers are finding creative ways of passing on Brexit-induced cost increases to consumers, buyer beware
British grocers are finding creative ways of passing on Brexit-induced cost increases to consumers. If you are shopping for candles or light bulbs, buyer beware. Unable to raise prices of staple goods from milk to Marmite because of tough competition from discounters and watchful tabloid newspapers, supermarket operators such as Tesco and Wal-Mart Stores's Asda are ratcheting them up on less frequently purchased goods such as dental floss, whose costs might not register as readily with shoppers. "Milk is the sort of item that shoppers use to build their price image of a retailer," says Cheryl Sullivan, chief marketing and strategy officer at Revionics, a software firm that helps stores with pricing strategies."But shoppers are only price-sensitive on a fraction of a retailer's range." The UK imports almost half the food it eats, and despite grocers holding firm on key lines, the effects of sterling's Brexit-driven slide are filtering through to shopping bills. Prices for food and dr...
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