Asda has temporarily restricted purchases of its new budget range Just Essentials, blaming rising demand.
The supermarket said customers would be limited to buying a maximum of three items of each product until further notice.
In May, the company launched Just Essentials, promising an expanded line of low-cost products to help shoppers with living expenses.
That comes after food poverty activist Jack Monroe criticized Asda for cutting its budget areas in some stores.
But on Wednesday, the supermarket said demand was outstripping availability, with sales growing nearly 20% faster than the market average.
“Just Essentials is very popular with customers and we are working hard to improve availability across the range,” said a spokesman.
“To ensure that as many customers as possible can purchase these products, we are temporarily limiting purchases to a maximum of three of each product for a short period of time. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
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Consumers are paying an average of £571 more for their groceries than they were last year, according to data from research firm Kantar.
Asda’s new Value range, which includes 300 value-for-money products, replaced the smaller Smart Price range in May.
Ms Monroe had criticized the supermarket in April for taking value ranges off the shelves and raising prices at a time when many household budgets were being squeezed.
Following their comments, Asda pledged to stock its budget ranges in all 581 supermarkets and online.
The supermarket, bought in 2020 by billionaire brothers Issa and their financiers TDR Capital, is the UK’s third largest grocer.
Inflation – the rate at which prices are rising – reached 9.9% in August, declining slightly from 10.1% in July.
According to the Office for National Statistics, food prices rose last month at their highest rate since 2008 as the war in Ukraine continued to push up prices at supermarket checkouts.
Shoppers are looking for discounts and budget chain Aldi overtook Morrisons in August to become the UK’s fourth largest supermarket for the first time, according to Kantar.
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