Supermarket chains test “quiet hours” pricing to flatten the 6 p.m. crush
Three retailers will cut a slice of basket prices between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays, hoping to move shoppers who can move — and keep evening staff.
The discounts are not loyalty points. They sit on the shelf ticket, in a second colour, and vanish at 2:01. Unions asked whether the scheme was a way to cut evening hours. Chains said they would rather keep those hours than pay overtime in a scrum.
Early numbers from a pilot city showed a 9 percent shift of baskets into the cheap window, mostly pensioners and people who already work from home.
Competitors are watching. If it works, the evening peak may stop being treated as a law of nature.
