Shoppers expect supermarkets to do more on reducing food waste

58% of UK consumers are more likely to shop with a supermarket that is actively reducing its food waste, with a quarter saying they are ‘much more likely’, according to a new report from RFID solutions specialist Checkpoint Systems.

The company surveyed 2,013 Brits.

Other key findings include: eight in ten believe supermarkets could be doing more to reduce food waste, including better management of use-by-dates (47.7%); working with suppliers to reduce food waste across the supply chain (43.7%); and marking down (reducing) products earlier (41.1%).

Three quarters of UK consumers think that supermarkets should publish transparent data on their food waste levels. 93.7% of Brits check the use-by date on food before they make a purchase.

65.5% would buy any item that was reduced in-store. One in ten consumers would never eat goods that have passed their use-by date.

Mike French, Business Unit Director, Checkpoint Systems UK, comments: “Consumers hold themselves, as much as retailers, responsible for reducing food waste, but it is clear that they want retailers to do more.”

“Supermarkets have done fantastic work with charities to ensure more is redistributed, but they need to better manage their stock to ensure they can sell items rather than have to throw them away.”

He concludes: “It is clear that shoppers are more than willing to purchase marked-down produce.”

“As long as retailers have effective solutions in place to identify when items are nearing their end-of-life they can quickly rotate the stock, reduce the price if necessary and ensure it doesn’t get discarded at the end of the day.”

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