Tesco Plc
Tesco Plc
• Tesco was founded in 1919 in the East End of
London by Jack Cohen
• Tesco is based in the UK and is described as an
international grocery and general
merchandising retail chain
• It is the world’s third largest global retailer in
revenue terms (only Wal-Mart – the owner of
Asda and Carrefour are bigger)
• In profit terms it is second only to Wal-Mart
Tesco figures
• Tesco is the largest British retailer with profits
of £3.128 billion in 2009
• Its revenue was £59.4 billion per year in 2009
• Tesco employs 440,000 employees
• There are 3729 stores in the UK
What does Tesco sell?
• Originally Tesco sold groceries- food & drink
• Tesco continues to sell groceries but has carried
out a process of diversification into other areas
• These include: consumer electronics, clothing,
CDs, DVDs (both rental and sale), music
downloads, optician and pharmacy services,
software, Internet services, financial services,
home health and car insurance, telecoms and
dental plans
The history of Tesco
• Founded by Jack Cohen in 1919, Tesco gets its
name from first three letters of a supplier Tesco
TE Stockwell and the first two letters Jack Cohen’s
surname
• The store was opened in 1929 and Tesco was first
listed on the stock exchange in 1947
• In the 1980s Tesco took over the Hillard’s chain of
supermarkets purchasing 40 supermarkets in the
North of England for £220 million
The history of Tesco
• In the 1990s company took over another
supermarket chain William low purchasing 57
stores in Scotland
• Following year in 1995Tesco introduced a
loyalty card which later became known as the
Clubcard
• Internet shopping was introduced in ???? The
Tesco remained the only food retailer to make
this section of their business profitable
The history of Tesco
• 1997 Tesco purchased the retail section of
Associated British Foods for £640m which
gave them a presence in Northern Ireland and
the Republic of Ireland
• A deal was also carried out between Tesco and
Esso which saw petrol stations operating
through the stores
The history of Tesco
• The new millennium saw Tesco expanding overseas indeed Tesco now operates 15 other countries around the
world
• Tesco operates in USA, Poland, Japan, Slovakia, Malaysia,
South Korea, Turkey, Thailand, China, Czech Republic,
Croatia, France, Republic of Ireland, Hungary and Indonesia
• At home it purchased TNS stores, allowing it to have a
presence in the convenience stores market and followed
this up with an acquisition of Adminstore ensuring a
presence in London
• It also expanded into providing telephone services and
Internet service provision
Anti-competitive?
• Some would argue that Tesco’s is so big that it a
monopoly and is particularly able to negotiate
contracts with local suppliers at very low prices
and thus make very high profits
• It also mean that there is a lack of choice for
consumers when shopping for products
• Tesco has been accused of anti-competitive
practices and was investigated in 2007 by the
office of fair trading for acting with five other
supermarkets to fix the price of milk butter and
cheese –it is still under investigation
Corporate strategy
• Introduction of the Tesco ClubCard
• Tesco finest, value and Tesco own brand goods
• A range of stores – Tesco Extra, Tesco
superstores, Tesco Metro, Tesco express, Tesco
home plus, and One Stop
• Through the above Tesco seems to be able to
appeal to all types of consumers and thus
maximise its revenue
Social responsibility
• Computers for schools
• Tesco Cup ( football competition for young
players)
• Also gives 1.87% of its pre-tax profits to
charities