London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 31, 2025

Coronavirus: Tesco limits sales of essential items

Tesco, the UK's largest grocer, has begun restricting sales of essential food and household items as a result of coronavirus stockpiling.

Shoppers are limited to buying no more than five of certain goods, including antibacterial gels, wipes and sprays, dry pasta, UHT milk and some tinned vegetables

The rules apply in stores and online.

A government spokesperson said it was in touch with UK supermarkets to "discuss their response" to the virus.

Waitrose has introduced a temporary cap on some items on its website, including some anti-bacterial soaps and wipes.

The supermarket said it was in talks with its suppliers to ensure customer demand was met.

It said some individual stores may have introduced their own restrictions, with "some branch managers making a judgement at a localised level".

The High Street chemist Boots has restricted sales of hand sanitisers to two per person.

Asda is also restricting some types of hand sanitiser to two bottles per person - the supermarket's only restriction in place currently.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury's said it was not limiting sales of any products in stores or online yet.

On Monday, Environment Secretary George Eustice is expected to hold talks with supermarket and trade bosses about "support for vulnerable groups who may be in isolation", the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.


'Short-term shortages'

According to a survey from Retail Economics, as many as one in 10 UK consumers is stockpiling, based on a sample of 2,000 shoppers.

But Dr Andrew Potter, chair in logistics and transport at Cardiff Business School, told the BBC: "Whilst there might be empty shelves at the moment in the shops, over the next week or so, we will see them replenish.

"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."

He said while retailers may have been caught out by the beginning of this shopping surge, they had very sophisticated systems to check changes in demand.

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, echoed that "supply chains remain robust and even where there are challenges, retailers are well-versed in providing measures" to keep shops running smoothly.

Waitrose said it has not put a cap on any of its products in stores.

But it has introduced a temporary cap on certain products on its website, including some anti-bacterial soaps and wipes, "to ensure our customers have access to the products they need".

UK retailers have been warned that they face prosecution if they exploit the coronavirus scare to hike prices for products such as hand sanitisers and face masks.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has told suppliers to act responsibly and said it was monitoring pricing practices.

It comes as Facebook and Amazon have cracked down on profiteers hiking prices online of face masks and hand sanitisers.

Facebook says it is temporarily banning ads and commercial listings for medical face masks. The ban will also apply to Instagram.

"We're monitoring Covid-19 closely and will make necessary updates to our policies if we see people trying to exploit this public health emergency," Facebook director of product management Rob Leathern tweeted.

"We'll start rolling out this change in the days ahead. We... anticipate profiteers will evolve their approach as we enforce on these ads."

Facebook had earlier announced a ban on ads for medical products which falsely suggested an item was in short supply, as well as those which falsely claimed to provide cures or prevention methods for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Amazon said it had removed thousands of listings from its sites around the world and was constantly monitoring attempted price-gouging.


Gel price ramping

Analysis from Liberty Marketing has found UK own-brand hand sanitisers are being sold on eBay for huge mark ups, with Lidl 49p sanitisers selling for as much as £24.99 online.

Morrison's £2 hand sanitiser is being sold for £29.99.

The Tesco Health Antibacterial Hand Gel (50ml) is just 75p in-store and is being sold for as much as £9 on eBay.

Other supermarkets included in the research include Asda, with a 2,629% increase, and Morrisons, with a 1,400% increase.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×