Supermarket Profits During Covid.

Tesco, Morrison and Asda all made profits during Covid lockdown, albeit reduced. Sainsbury’s made an after tax loss of £280m. Apparently the loss was due to them repaying the furlough costs back to government. Sainsbury’s charitable trust and the family have always been at the forefront of ‘corporate social responsibility’. That said at a time when corporate greed makes regular headlines it is refreshing to see a major corporation buck the trend.

 

Nobody will convince me that supermarkets aren't fiddling the books if they say they didn't have record years

They literally had a monopoly on retail for months, had queues around the carparks and couldn't keep up with demand either online or in-store but they then claim reduced profits? Aye alright

 

It doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? Maybe they used to sell a lot of £3+ meal deals at lunch every day that became a loaf of bread, sandwich filler and a multipack of crisps for the week instead? Will and I have always taken lunch to work but almost everyone at his work goes to the local Tesco daily for the meal deal at £15 a week each. The queues could have been same amount of people but just spread out outside so looked busier than usual. I know a lot of people tried to cut back on food waste too to stop having to go on multiple trips and bought in bulk (generally always cheaper) for the same reason. I know a few people who signed up to fruit and veg and meat boxes deliveries from local small companies and stopped getting that stuff from supermarkets. Shopping did seem more expensive though as almost all multibuy deals seemed to have stopped at one point.

 

Prices definitely went through the roof when they realised they had a monopoly. As for the meal deal thing I could be wrong but I think meal deals are loss leaders aren't they? Or at least very low profit margins designed to get people into the shops.

I honestly reckon they're just doing some very clever accounting to avoid the backlash that would follow if they admitted they'd profited from the pandemic

 

The supermarkets have tightened their grip. I now either buy from independents or from ALDI. ALDI pay their staff better too.

(PS I know ALDI are a supermarket. Prices & quality are superb, if the shopping experience is a bit rough & ready).

 

One of the highlights from my week away in Wales was seeing so many independent butchers and bakeries and far fewer massive supermarkets.

 

No idea on the numbers but I work at a Morrisons manufacturing site and we've had to spend an absolute fortune on safety measures at site and we're one of 18 manufacturing sites alone, let alone all our logistics sites

I also know we've donated millions of pounds worth of food and have doubled the colleague bonus over the past 12 months

No idea what initiatives other Supermarkets have launched but other Supermarkets don't have their own Manufacturing/Logistics sites

 

I did hear Sainsburys had paid a bonus and had more than doubled their delivery fleet, plus the recruitment of drivers to man that fleet. Plus the right down of the Argos purchase as well as the other things you mentioned in warehouses and stores.

 

I don’t think they make any money from online grocery’s, it’s pretty much a loss leader, and as so many people switched to online I’m not surprised profits are down. Also I’m guessing people have been more willing to shop at smaller stores and avoid the bigger stores and also non-grocery sales have been restricted at various stages and petrol sales will be down. So they’ve had a lot of downward pressure o their business.

 

I work in food production too and I know our company has also spent a fortune on putting measures in place. I also know the share price more than doubled last year. In fairness we've all had a 3 significant bonuses since last March so they have looked after the staff.

 

Yes, these massive companies are not really interested in low population regions. Wales & Northumberland being prime examples.SPAR or Co-op are much more common in sparse rural areas.

 

There's been a resurgence locally of butchers and other small food based shops, though the insanely high rents have meant a few have struggled if they were near the high streets. Supermarkets have their benefits don't get me wrong, but one of the things lockdown has afforded me is a greater connection with smaller independents and a pushback against convenience.

 

I think we will see a rise in success of the independents over the next few years

 

I really really hope so.

 

I have not seen any figures for the big players, but what I have noticed that in our village & near bye villages the amount of people shopping has increased significantly, which I think is superb , hopefully this trend continues long after normality returns .

 

Brexit created the price spike not profiteering.

 

Didn’t know Wednesday did supermarkets

 

There were two Price rises that I noticed. One was during the first lockdown when all offers disappeared and prices shot up, the second was around Christmas when Brexit kicked in

 

I think out of the big three Morrisons is a bit of a unique case as they produce their own stuff like you say, the others so ply buy it in, largely on contract prices I think?, Which would mean the supplier takes the hit. Unless I've got that massively wrong

 

They may pay their staff better but they have targets on how quick they get the shopping through etc
Local Co op for me, but some big shops at Morrisoms or Asda. I had enough of Aldi and Lidl as a student!