To say that actually supermarkets might not make the huge profit out if this that one might think

[ouch321]

Originally I thought that the supermarkets, Andrex, Carex and the like would be looking forward to really good profits with all huge increase in the amount of sales.

But say Asda, which I hear are hiring loads of staff right now to fill shelves to meet the volume of customers, this will push their wage bill up. But at the end of the year, if Bob would normally buy one jar of pasta sauce each month and instead buys twelve at one go the volume of sales at the end of the year is the same it's just that the purchases that normally would have been spread out have been bunched up in one go so their profits won't be higher but their costs would have gone up.

I know that most of the hot panic buys are loo roll, pasta, handwash which don't go off though it's now moved onto milk/fresh produce and yes to some extent the fresh produce will need replacing but on the other hand even milk/fish will last a while in the fridge or people are chucking packs of mince and such like in the freezer.

So am I right or wrong? Who is good at financial modelling

The shop (supermarket convenience) I work for usually takes about £30-40k a week... They've made over £100k so far this week.

I agree. - there will be staffing costs and people will calm down and at some point stop holding so much stock in their own homes and will eat it.

I quite agree. They may make more in the short term but over the next 3 months-year things will even out as people use their stock pile. essentially their model of business has suddenly had to change to amazon delivery whilst still having the overheads of big stores.

they are cutting costs in some areas though - I think tesco and sainsbury's are moving to 8-8 opening for all stores, so open over a shorter time period, and several are closing fish/butchery/bakery counters, which are presumably more staff intensive.

I don't often shop on a Saturday morning (because its busy), but aside from bonkers queues outside some supermarkets, by 10.30 this morning, local large sainsbury only had one person in front of me at the checkout. Tons of people queuing for the self service checkout this morning though.

Except you need to factor in the fact that people aren't eating outside of their homes - school lunches, work lunches, dinner and drinks out - that will all be replaced with food and drink from the supermarkets...that is pretty huge (I am definitely shocked at how fast my family get through food when at home 24/7 !)

I looked around at all the empty shelves - the only unsold stuff was the easter special items - I dunno how much they would make on those but anecdotally it appeared people aren't buying any of that shite.

Everybody is using the same amount of stuff. It'll all balance out. People buying 1000 loo rolls spent a lot first week but now don't have to buy it again for the next 5 years. (Depending on poopiness.)

It would be nice to think that many who have stockpiled tins and other goods might look to donate to food banks any left over items taking up space once we come out of the other side of this. Meaning it smooths out any huge impact on the Supermarkets in turns of 'normal' sales volumes plummeting - I'm thinking of staff job losses and downward price pressures on their farming supply train rather than their profits though.

However, witnessing some of the selfish and cruel attitudes and actions of swathes of people over the past couple of weeks, I don't hold out much hope it would happen.

I think this might make people more wary of not having a stash of goods at home. Having learnt how easy it is for things to suddenly go tits up, a lot of people who aren't normally 'preppers' might now be more that way inclined.
So people might not let their stocks run down, but carry on buying as usual to keep a bit of a backup supply.

Nanny2877
The shop (supermarket convenience) I work for usually takes about £30-40k a week... They've made over £100k so far this week.

Same here. And because people will be at home more there will be no letting up on bigger weekly shops for months.

The supermarkets already run on bare minimum staffing levels so having to pay a few more part time staff wont really have much impact. Ours was bragging a few weeks ago how much they had saved on wages bills by reducing overtime which put extra strain on the staff who were working.

They are laughing all the way to the bank.

I can't see all this hoarded stuff getting consumed. Especially the eggs. Where have all the eggs gone? Do people know they don't last?

Am I the only one who eats stuff just cause it's there?

Bob may have brought 12 jars in 1 go, but rather than buy some cheap brand he's been forced to buy some very expensive organic version, on which the shops makes two or three times the profit as a far cheaper jar. It's not just that shops have sold out, they have sold out of all the very expensive stuff which usually sells way slower.

Apparently there’s £1bn worth of food in people’s homes now. How much more can the buggers buy without running out of space?

Could the Queen donate some of her loo rolls to my 95 year old mum please!? Too many houses, too many loo rolls!

As a PP has said, eating habits have now changed. In our household the supermarket shop now has to cover at least 12 meals more than I was shopping for before. That is a bit insignificant quantity, and will continue as long as we are at home.

*not

I'm abroad. I've just finished my first week of being at home 100% of the time with three kids. We’ve eaten double the amount we would normally eat in a week. I did a big shop 10 days ago and I've been out a couple of times for top ups. I've spent at least double the amount I normally would in 10 days.
The money that would normally have been spent by people in coffee shops, restaurants etc. is being spent in supermarkets. Yes, in six months (or whenever) people might not need to buy tins or toilet roll if they stocked up, but all the additional food that people bought week after week will be gone.

Queenie is of the wartime generation. She can surely give up toilet roll and use her old copies of the Racing Post.

(Actually I think it was reported that Buck house was still using old school Izal hard sheets in boxes until very recently.)

Except we have changed the way we eat so are eating more at home, and joe blogs and his 12 jars of sauce will probably keep some aside for future emergencies.

I think there will always be winners and losers, supermarkets costs will increase but they have people on short term contracts so it probably won't be too dire in terms of long term costs.

@Mockerswithnoknockers I've been moaning about eggs for over a week. One poster explained it's probably combo of this and the floods. Apparently the floods affected egg supply quite a lot

People won't be eating out or drinking in pubs so, so sales from supermarkets of food and drink will go up.

But staff are paid minimum wage so although extra staffing costs will be there it’s not much really when you think they must of been making extra £££££

People can’t go to the pub or eat in restaurants so will be buying extra from supermarkets for weeks/months to come

Having dc off school, they will eat more

You are completely correct. I’m a consultant and have done supermarket pricing optimisation projects, and it’s a big issue with pricing special offers correctly - if you get BOGOF on a particular product that is long life, you might buy ten at once instead of one, but over that year you will still buy the same amount. So if you buy ten at a lower price than your normal brand, the supermarket has lost money. So they have to be really careful to do this with overstock or fresh foods etc rather than other products. Just because someone bought 200 loo rolls doesn’t mean they’ll buy 200 more than their normal annual amount by Christmas. And it’s costing supermarkets more to manage the staff.

There will be losses on their clothes and other seasonal items.