Supermarkets are at snow battle stations

Some shoppers are braving the weather to buy groceries

Supermarkets have faced some difficulties taking deliveries in the snowy weather, but are confident that shelves will remain full.

Drivers spent the night in their cabs and have been delayed on the roads, but retailers said they had prepared for the cold snap.

Items such as bags of salt and flasks are selling well. However, stores denied reports of "panic buying".

Some grocery home deliveries have been cut back by the snow.

But the bad weather is expected to bring cheer to internet retailers, as bored stay-at-home workers drift towards online shopping.

Delivery problems

The Food Storage and Distribution Federation said that access problems on link roads in Lancashire and the West Midlands were causing particular problems.

With more people at home, they tend to drift towards online shopping David Smith, IMRG

Christopher Sturman, chief executive of the federation which represents 45 storage companies and 16 distribution companies, said members were worried about the level of gritting of roads.

This was a particular issue for milk delivery, he said, owing to the need to transport milk every day from farms to dairies.

He described the weather conditions as the worst for 20 years and said one of the key problems was drivers being able to get to work.

One distribution contractor has reported average delays of about two hours in deliveries, with many drivers in the East of England and Scotland forced to spend the night in their cabs.

Deliveries in rural areas were worst affected. Asda said that some lorries and vans had been unable to get through to certain stores.

The snowy conditions have also affected home delivery services. Ocado has reduced the number of delivery slots available to its customers, owing to travel difficulties.

On Tuesday, 56 Marks and Spencer stores were closed at some point because of the weather conditions, although only two - at Ebbw Vale and Reigate - were shut on Wednesday.

For many shops and services, the difficulty for staff to get to work can be the biggest problem in staying open.

Popular items

Sainsbury's said that sales of flasks and travel mugs were up more than 160% on this time last year as commuters braced themselves for the cold weather. Sales of tinned items, hot cereals and candles and matches were also expected to increase.

David Bailey, Sainsbury's weather analyst, said: "A temperature change of 3C from the seasonal average can result in sales of some products going up by as much as 50%.

"An average week in January would normally see maximum daytime temperatures of 6C to 10C and this week, we are expecting maximum daytime temperatures between -2C to 3C. We have been working hard to forecast conditions and ensure our shelves are fully stocked."

Waitrose said that sales of tights were up 20% compared with the warmer period last year, as people wrapped up before braving the cold, while sales of wool and cashmere socks had increased by 50%.

Budgens said that bread and milk were proving popular.

Internet sales

There is a level of irony in the expected uplift in online shopping during the snowfalls.

Some services are working hard to beat the weather

Although items bought online could face delays in delivery times, this was overwhelmed by the effect of workers staying at home, according to David Smith.

The director of operations at e-retail body IMRG said that snowy days tended to mirror the kind of online shopping levels seen on Mondays - the busiest day of the week for internet retailers.

"We saw this during the floods and previous snowfalls, partly because people are at home and a bit bored," he said.

"Clothes and some equipment are popular, but simply with more people at home, they tend to drift towards online shopping."

Shopping trends

Shoppers have a somewhat contradictory approach to shopping in the bad weather - with town centres generally quiet, but shoppers often stockpiling food.

Reports suggest that comfort foods, such as soup, have been popular and some psychologists suggest nostalgia over traditional food kicks in during the poor weather.

While some of the most fresh items in food stores could become more scarce owing to the weather conditions, the supermarkets tended to cope with stock levels for the majority of products.

Supermarkets put considerable investment into gathering specific weather forecasts, according to Bryan Roberts, research director at Planet Retail.

He said that the stores had a broad seasonal plan, but distribution was run like a "military operation".

With many distribution centres based close to motorways, it would take extremely severe weather conditions to hit stock levels.

Unexpected unseasonal weather - such as a wet and cold snap in August - caused bigger problems for the supermarkets, he said. Stocking beer and barbecue items when shoppers would rather have soups and ready meals can cause problems.

Influence

Paul Buckley, a lecturer in marketing and consumer psychology at the University of Wales Institute, said that "social influence theory" meant that some shoppers followed the crowd if they saw their friends and neighbours stocking up with food now.

Others would also buy groceries, fearing that the rush might leave them short if they delayed their shopping.

This might also mean that the traditional post-Christmas, pre-payday slowdown in sales at the end of January might be accentuated this year as people run down these supplies in the coming weeks.

But as people battle at the supermarket shelves, psychologist Alex Gardner brings some cheer with the view that at times of bad weather, our qualities of kindness and co-operation tend to shine through the gloom.

This has been seen by staff at the Co-op in Allendale, Northumberland, where residents have come in to offer to deliver groceries to the elderly, they say.