Canada’s largest grocer is freezing prices on all its No Name merchandise until subsequent yr as double-digit meals inflation sends grocery payments spiralling.
Loblaw Companies Ltd. says it has locked in prices of the favored home model, which incorporates greater than 1,500 grocery objects, until Jan. 31, 2023.
In a letter shared with clients Monday, Loblaw chairman and president Galen G. Weston says the value of a mean basket of groceries is up about 10 per cent this yr, with objects like apples, soup and chips up much more.
He says a lot of that is “maddeningly” out of the corporate’s management as meals suppliers move on greater prices to Loblaw.
Weston says whereas the grocery chain is pushing again in opposition to unfair value will increase, most are affordable and stem from will increase in primary prices for suppliers.
He says that is why Loblaw has determined to give attention to what it might management and is locking in No Name prices and promising extra offers within the weeks forward to supply reduction from escalating meals prices.
“Anyone who recurrently visits the grocery retailer is aware of that over the previous yr the price of meals has elevated quickly,” Weston mentioned in a letter shared with members of the corporate’s loyalty program PC Optimum.
Similar strikes in different international locations
The determination to freeze prices of the non-public label model with its distinctive yellow-and-black packaging follows comparable bulletins by grocers in different international locations.
In August, French grocery store chain Carrefour introduced plans to freeze prices on about 100 of its house-brand merchandise until Nov. 30.
In June, Lidl’s U.S. arm launched a summer time price-cutting marketing campaign to ease the inflationary burden on clients. The firm mentioned it dropped prices on greater than 100 objects in its shops throughout 9 East Coast states until August.
“We’ve seen grocers voluntarily freezing prices throughout the G7 for some time now,” mentioned Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University professor of meals distribution and coverage. “It ought to have occurred a very long time in the past in Canada.”
Still, freezing No Name prices will provide much-needed reduction to Canadians, he mentioned.
It will even assist to restore a few of the picture points Canada’s huge grocers are dealing with, Charlebois mentioned.
“This can be a PR technique … a variety of Canadians are blaming grocers for what is going on on with meals inflation,” he mentioned. “Some of it’s deserved … however a lot of that criticism is unfair as a result of meals prices can rise for quite a lot of causes past a grocer’s management.”