How Iceland, Aldi and more are helping shoppers with the cost of living crisis

With a new host of hiked prices and bill payments arriving from this month, the cost of living crisis is certainly far from over for consumers.

The latest wave of costs to hit consumers stem in part from changes unveiled in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s October Budget, including a hiked minimum wage from 1 April, National Insurance rises coming from 6 April, as well as a £720m boost in business rates. 

Earlier this week, research from Retail Economics found retailers would pass around £1.72bn of the extra costs onto consumers via price rises while council tax, water, energy and mobile phone tariffs are all set to go up this month.

This, alongside President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping international tariffs, including a 10% tariff on the UK, mean the cost of living crisis which has wreaked havoc on customers wallets and living standards since 2021 is far from over.

Iceland is the latest retailer to have extended an olive branch to shoppers, launching 450 deals as part of a pricing revamp in lieu of an April Fool’s joke on 1 April.

Retail Gazette looks at the various initiatives retailers have rolled out in recent times to help customers handle the cost of living crisis. 

Iceland

Iceland is one retailer that has rolled out various measures to help shoppers handle cost of living pressures.

Most recently, Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker decided to scrap an April Fool’s Day joke this year, and instead unveiled a major pricing shake-up across stores.

The supermarket revealed it was launching 450 deals covering a wide range of its products from 1 April, as Walker warned the day was no day for jokes with millions of consumers facing hiked water, energy and council tax bills.

Additionally,  in 2022 Iceland launched an interest-free “microloans” scheme, dubbed the The Iceland Food Club, in efforts to provide an “ethical and affordable alternative” to the “ultra-high-interest lenders, or even illegal loan sharks”.

The scheme made interest-free loans available to UK shoppers to help them keep on top of food bills.

The club offers micro-loans worth up to £100 on pre-payment cards to spend at its shops, with customers able to pay back £10 each week.

In December, Iceland went on to extend the scheme for Christmas and throughout 2025.

Existing customers were able to top up their card from 16 December before Christmas, while new users were able to apply via Fair For You’s website.

Under another cost of living initiative, in July Iceland revealed it would be dishing out a free £100 each day to in-store shoppers, alongside a £50 voucher for the cashier who served them.

The grocery giant gives away the reward to anybody who has spent money in one of its Iceland or Food Warehouse shops, with shoppers able to spend “as little as you want”.

Shoppers need to scan their Iceland or Food Warehouse Bonus card while purchasing something in order to be in with a chance of winning the money.

The initiative is forecast to grant roughly £36,500 each year, according to the frozen food specialist.

Aldi

Aldi is another supermarket that has proved generous with its cost of living support for shoppers.

For example, last month the German discounter became the first UK grocer to make free period products available to customers in its toilets.

Shoppers will be able to take whatever they need from the toilets, with the products made available from 18 March across 70% of Aldi’s facilities. The full roll-out is expected to be finished by the end of May.

The move came as research from the German supermarket revealed 1 in 3 of those who menstruate reported being unable to afford period products, with 15% saying it was “always” or “very often” the case. 

It also revealed that 30% needed to choose between period products and other everyday essentials.                                                 

Moreover, In March Aldi rolled out a support fund for cash-strapped new parents, as almost two-thirds admitted the financial strain of having a child was larger than they thought.

The supermarket’s ‘Mamia New Parent Fund’ is set to dish out £100 worth of Aldi vouchers per week for a year, in efforts to help parents handle the cost of everyday essentials after having a baby.

The discounter’s UK chief commercial officer Julie Ashfield said: “No parent ever forgets the joy of welcoming a new child, but it often also brings unexpected financial challenges.

“Even after the big-ticket purchases before the baby arrives, there’s suddenly lots of new items to add to your weekly grocery list for the first time.

“As the UK’s cheapest supermarket, we’re committed to doing whatever we can to support parents in making their money go further, including through our award-winning Mamia brand. Our Mamia New Parent Fund is just another way that we’re supporting parents to help them better enjoy every moment with their new arrival.”

Back in 2023, Aldi also launched a partnership with surplus food marketplace Too Good To Go across all of its UK stores.

The retailer began offering surplus “magic bags,” also known as “surprise bags” costing £3.30 to fight food waste, following a trial of the scheme the year prior.

The bags contain a range of groceries near to their sell-by or use-by dates worth at least £10 of food.

To collect a bag, customers need to download the Too Good To Go app and search for their local Aldi shop before reserving a bag to pick up at an allocated time.

The German discounter has saved 1m surprise bags of unsold groceries from going to waste via the partnership to date, according to its website.

Tesco gives free food to customers

Las month, Tesco lent a helping hand to shoppers by announcing that it would be giving free food to customers in efforts to slash food waste.

The UK’s biggest supermarket introduced “yellow sticker” prices of £0 for food items which are about to expire, according to The Telegraph. Tesco’s discounts were previously typically limited to 90%.

The supermarket is currently trialling the initiative across a small number of its Express shops for customers shopping after 21:30, under a trial designed to slash food waste as part of its net zero targets. 

Although the grocer seeks to donate its unsold products to charities, some groceries have previously been used to generate gas which could be burned for energy, counting as waste.

An internal memo seen by the newspaper revealed that Tesco would still be giving away some goods to charities, and that its store workers would be given priority to receive its yellow sticker items which had been reduced earlier in the day.

However, any leftover groceries in stores in the lead-up to closing labelled “reduced to clear” are to be offered to customers free of charge.

M&S joins forces with Neighbourly for surplus food scheme

In February, food and fashion giant M&S became the first retailer to test community impact platform Neighbourly’s surplus food scheme, where users collect food for personal use. 

The platform’s Surplus Saviours initiative enables users to collect unsold food donations from the organisation’s supermarket, cafe and store network for the first time, according to The Grocer.

The scheme is tailored for smaller-scale collections, with the food available at sites where smaller quantities or specific collection times better suit users’ needs.

The move forms an extension of Neighbourly’s charitable programme, where it works with retailers such as M&S, Lidl, Aldi and Sainsbury’s to give out excess food to community causes and charities.

Amazon Fresh £1 meal deal

In January, Amazon Fresh extended an olive branch to shoppers by rolling out a £1 meal deal, dubbed as “London’s best value meal deal”.

The deal was available from 6 January to 31 January and covered its £3.90 meal deal. However, it did not include its £5.50 premium meal deal.

Shoppers could also choose a hot drink for no additional cost, while iced drinks were available across the Holborn and Liverpool Street stores.

To redeem the deal, customers were required to visit the company’s website and pay at the self-checkout or gates with the Amazon app.

The offer was available across Amazon Fresh’s Southwark, Holborn, Moorgate, Wood Wharf, Euston, Liverpool St, Monument, Hoxton, East Croydon, West Hampstead and Aldgate East sites.

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