British shoppers bought more emergency supplies after the government launched its Be Ready campaign on Oct. 22, while separate shelf data showed wider gaps for water and milk.
Worldpanel by Numerator said hand sanitizer sales were 83% higher in the 10 days beginning Oct. 22 than in the same period in 2025. Bottled water sales rose 67%, and sales of tinned and jarred goods increased 37%.
The number of people buying tinned meat each day rose 43%, equivalent to about 400,000 additional shoppers, Worldpanel said. The typical pack size remained near 500 grams. Fraser McKevitt, its head of retail and consumer insight, described the pattern as measured preparation rather than panic buying. Fewer than one-third of households bought bottled water in October.
The Cabinet Office's three-year Be Ready campaign asks households to keep supplies for three days of disrupted services, including power and water. Its checklist recommends three liters of drinking water per person per day and food that needs no cooking or refrigeration. It suggests buying missing supplies gradually during routine grocery trips to spread the cost.
Focal Systems, which monitors supermarket shelves, found that gaps in product listings for long-life milk had tripled by Oct. 28 compared with the day before the campaign began. Bottled-water shelf gaps nearly doubled during Oct. 22–28 compared with the preceding four weeks. Gaps for tinned foods were broadly in line with seasonal patterns.
Focal's figures measure gaps in product listings, rather than the proportion of stores with empty shelves. The company said storms during the study period may have contributed to some of the increases.
Across groceries, Worldpanel reported a 2.2% rise in take-home sales from a year earlier in the four weeks ended Nov. 1. Like-for-like grocery price inflation reached 2.6%, up from 2.5% in the previous four weeks.
The Cabinet Office says household preparation can help people manage service outages and reduce pressure on emergency responders. Radio and social media ads are due to follow as the campaign develops.
