Shoppers are increasingly turning to local produce as the impact of Brexit looms ever larger.
Almost of a fifth of all consumers (19%) plan to buy more British brands and 12% are going to start to buy more local produce as Brexit looms ever larger, according to data from Channel Pulse, Lumina Intelligence’s weekly measure of shopper and consumer behaviour across all UK food and drink channels.
With uncertainty around import tariffs, 34% of consumers are worried that prices will go up and 6% of consumers have begun to stockpile in case of shortages.
Unsurprisingly, business leaders share the same concerns as consumers. In a recent Lumina Intelligence survey with business leaders from across the hospitality and grocery retail industries, the number one concern about Brexit was import tariffs and the uncertainty around price increases. Business leaders are concerned this will limit their ability to offer reasonably priced products to consumers.
With maximum attention placed on tackling the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, it is understandable that consumers are not fully focussed on the upcoming Brexit deadline.
Almost a quarter of consumers said they had not given much thought to it and 37% indicated that they were more worried about the coronavirus than our impending exit from the EU.
When asked about their general feeling towards the upcoming Brexit deadline, nearly half were worried or very worried, 36% were not worried and 17% said they were unsure how they felt about the matter.
