Poundland puts up cheeky signs warning customers about shopping at supermarket rivals

POUNDLAND has posted its own version of “waste warnings” in stores as it tries to discourage customers from shopping at supermarket rivals.

The cheeky signs are in response to plans for major supermarkets to put up signs warning shoppers not to waste food - after a report revealed households waste £13billion worth of perfectly good food each year.

Experts at Government-funded food waste charity Wrap claim that if around £470 could be saved by every home in the UK, if they stop throwing away edible food.

Its plans include displays on supermarket shelves as well as targeting customers with information about food choices and habits through loyalty schemes and online shopping websites and apps.

Notices saying “one cup of rice feeds two people” and “bread goes off faster in the fridge” will apparently appear in supermarket aisles, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose in a bid to curb food waste.

But Poundland has instead urged customers to focus on money.

Barry Williams, trading director at Poundland, said: “In light of a recent report which claims some of the UK’s biggest retailers including Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s will be erecting signs to warn shoppers against food waste, we’d like to encourage our customers to think about the amount of money they may be wasting when shopping at said retailers.

“Out of concern for our customers pockets we will be displaying signs in-store discouraging customers from indulging in wasteful practices such as shopping anywhere but Poundland.”

Poundland has over 700 stores in the UK since opening the first one in 1990.

The move comes a week after Asda and Morrisons launched a supermarket price war by cutting the price of hundreds of household items in a bid to win shoppers.

Tesco also cut the price of a number of similar items but the supermarket denied that it was part of a “mass reduction on prices”.

The big four supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda – have been trying to win back customers in the face of competition from bargain shops Aldi and Lidl.

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