More than a third of British consumers believe the price of basic groceries includes “a lot of profit for supermarkets” and “are far higher than they need to be”, new polling by YouGov has found.
Some 35% of the 6,142 adults surveyed agreed with the viewpoint that the price of products like eggs, bread and milk include a hefty cut for retailers.
A further 36% agreed with the view that essentials prices included a “moderate” profit for supermarkets and were still higher than they needed to be.
The findings follow the shock plan floated by government earlier this week to persuade supermarkets to agree to cap food prices to ward off inflation caused by the war in the Middle East.
The government is understood to have asked retailers to consider capping prices for a raft of staple products such as bread, eggs and milk, with suggestions that in return the government would consider relaxing some of the regulatory costs faced by retailers.
The proposals have been met with huge opposition from industry leaders, among them M&S chief Stuart Machin, who yesterday dubbed the plan “completely preposterous”.
Only 9% of those polled by YouGov believed the price of basic food items didn’t include much profit and were lower than they could be. Even fewer – 4% – agreed with the idea that the price of staples featured “little or no profit for supermarkets and are as low as they can realistically be”.
Earlier this week, a report by free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs found Brits “significantly overestimate” the profits of supermarkets. Brits believe supermarkets are making profit margins of 50%, a survey by the IEA found, despite the true figure falling around 2% to 4%.
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