Nisa is pushing through hundreds of emergency price rises for retailers starting from today, blaming rapidly increasing production and shipping costs.
Suppliers are putting up costs at such a rate that wholesale price increases cannot wait for the six-weekly PLOF (price list and order form) cycle, Nisa has told retailers.
A typical 3,000 sq ft store will see about 160 price rises from today (21 March) and another 160 from 28 March, according to an email to retailers from Nisa commercial director Ayaz Alam.
“The country continues to navigate its way through a turbulent economic landscape driven by many challenges both domestic and international in nature, and this has resulted in an increase in the cost of production and shipping of many products,” said the email, dated 18 March.
“Due to a number of supplier cost price increases passed through to us recently we have had to review our range and adjust our own pricing on affected lines accordingly. We are undertaking this work outside the normal price list order form cycle due to the volume and speed suppliers are enacting increases, meaning we are having to be more agile in processing these changes.”
The email, seen by The Grocer, went on: “To keep this workload manageable in stores we have phased price changes, so on Monday 21st March we will be applying price increases to a small number of lines, which for an average 3,000 sq ft store should equate to approximately 160 price changes at wholesale price. A similar number of changes can be expected on the 28th March.”
The email also promised some price reductions on Co-op-brand products “despite the significant cost pressures facing the industry”, with more details to come later.
Amrit Singh, owner of Nisa Local in High Heath, Walsall, was sympathetic to the need for the increases. “It’s a national wholesaler who is dealing with fuel charges, staff issues, employment problems, supply issues, so put it this way: I wouldn’t want to be them,” he said.
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