OT: Tes**'s, relentless onslaught ..?

Hi All,

I was talking to some friends yesterday and they asked me if I had seen the new Tes*o store that had opened up in their local (small) town. They also mentioned that the nearby Co-Op had already layed off

10 staff. ;-(

One of the few remaining petrol local stations is now a Tes*o Express and if you just want to buy petrol you queue behind folk buying their weekly shop or sorting their lottery tickets (so I don't use the place).

1/4 mile up the road another ex petrol station is to be flats over another Tes*o Express and 1/2 mile further a large Tes*o store. Another 1/2 mile and you are at a Te**o Mega store .. .

Now *we* aren't 'shoppers' (as in go shopping for fun or to 'have a look round') and generally use local stores for all our daily needs (eg food). Over the years we have mainly used Sainsbury's (even though there are alternatives nearby) as it's the nearest and best suits our needs (it's aso not too big so we can get round quickly). With the advent of all these new Tes*o's I see the writing on the wall for the others around here and also the many small (7>11) delicatessant type places that have sprung up recently. As these shops close they get bulldozed and turned into more flats (but often with no extra parking).

Not only food suppliers suffer .. a mate runs a toy and cycle shop and has watched his customers dwindle. Ok, he can still pick up the cycle repair work but with stuff being so cheap and folk happy to pollute rather than repair (how may 'ordinary' parents fix thir kids bikes any more .. the (most) kids certianly don't) he is even seeing less of that sort of work.

Nearly all the local traders (in many fields) say 'it's dead out there' and the last thing *they* need right now is Tes*o branching out into everything? (and importing workers to do it).

In the 'old days' local shops would agree not to sell competing lines ..

Now I guess 'that's business' but isn't it just beeing greedy?

Ho hum ..

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m
Loading thread data ...

[snipped some stuff]

Dunno I use Asda. :-P

Reply to
ben

Yes it is, it's why we haven't been Tescoid customers for years. They are into every part of life. And I heard that they were moving into funerals but that could just be a rumour - so far..

Some of us will continue to resist - mostly for the sake of suppliers and other local businesses.

Indeed. A very telling post - I could have written it myself except that we don't use Sainsbo's either. But I'm pleased to say that our own grandchildren maintain their own bikes. Their parents were brought up to (because we were racing and touring cyclists) and they couldn't see the point in paying for someone else to do what they can do better. That, I suppose denies trade to the repair shops though ...

It's not easy.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

We have a Tesco Express just opened up over the road, where there used to be a petrol station. The station managers were told that to stay in business, they had to sell a minimum of a million litres of fuel a year.

On a side note, I was over at Tesco a little earlier, to see Police in attendance. It seems there was some chap taking cornflakes off the shelf and smashing the boxes by jumping up and down on them. When the police had arrested him and carted him off, I asked what was going on.

It turns out that they had been looking for this chap for some time as he was a ceral killer.

Reply to
Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)

I wonder if they'll do a cheap option with a blue and white striped casket, and a trolley instead of a hearse.

Reply to
Rob Morley

If you want to see where it goes to then think about the range of alternatives there are to Windows for your computers' operating system. It's not just the problem of being forced to buy at Tescos - it's not being able to buy products that Tescos decide not to stock ... because such products probably won't be produced or will only be available (at a price) by mail order.

Reply to
John Cartmell

I thought you might live near me, but apparently not. We too have had an Esso station transform into a Tesco Express in no time at all. As they completely levelled the site, I was most surprised to see it is a TE with petrol station. New pumps and canopy and everything.

As long as they don't put the nearby Shell station out of business, it should keep fuel prices keen. Esso were always competitive and Tesco have set their price at a similar level, so one is hopeful. There are very few other filling stations left in the area.

;-)

Reply to
John Laird

You mean that there will be a really cheap supermarket that isn't as slick and pretty but is a lot cheaper?

Reply to
Rob Morley

Joking aside (although I'm not sure it actually is a joke in reality) there's another parasitical industry, *often* praying on the vunerbilities of folk when they are at their weakest. ;-(

"I'm sure your dear Father wouldn't want to be buried in that 'value' casket .. this deluxe walnut model is a snip at (guess) £2500 ... " ?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

And according to the lunchtime news today the PC maker of the Tiny / Time PCs is in receivership (1500 jobs) .. can't compete with the Tesco's of the PC world .. like Dell ..?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

But what about the BOGOF option?

Reply to
John Cartmell

That would be the followup to this then...

Reply to
PC Paul

LOL

T i m

Reply to
T i m

from Tesco's Finest(R) Coffin range no doubt... ? ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

More like can't compete by selling crap computers with naff after sales service ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

And yer 'points' ;-)

T i m

Reply to
T i m

And yet ...

7/07/2005 - It looks likely that Somerfield might be forced by the UK's competition regulator to sell 14 of the 100 former Safeway stores it purchased from Wm Morrison, a move that might provide a modicum of relief to food processors under pressure from retailer buying power.

Retailers market buying power is a concern for food processors, many of which are facing margin squeezes due to higher energy and commodity costs. Food retailers have continued consolidating in the UK, leading a trend throughout Europe, giving them broader distribution and more power to demand lower prices from their suppliers. In a provisional conclusion issued yesterday, the Competition Commission concluded that the acquisition of the 115 stores "may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition" in 14 grocery retail markets in the UK. "We identified stores in 14 areas where we have provisionally found that the acquisition is expected significantly to reduce competition resulting in higher prices, or reductions in quality, range or service," the Commission stated. "We believe the only effective means of restoring competition in these areas is for the identified stores to be sold to a suitable grocery retailer who will offer choice and actively compete in the relevant local markets." Most of the stores acquired by Somerfield are defined as 'mid-range' stores. All had been acquired by Morrisons as part of the acquisition of Safeway in

2003. Two of the 115 stores were among the 52 stores the Commission forced Morrisons to sell as a condition of approving the company's purchase of Safeway. Neither of the two stores is among the 14 which now cause the Commission to be concerned. Somerfield and other interested parties have until 16 August to respond to the Commission's findings before it issues a final decision. Somerfield itself is currently up for sale. In April Somerfield announced that a consortium made up of investment firms had made a bid for the company, valuing the group at about £1.1bn. The company had previously rejected a £1.04bn offer from the Baugur Group, a retailer in Iceland, which has dropped out of the bidding war. London & Regional, a property group, has reportedly made a similar offer. The bidding war is part of the further consolidation in the UK's supermarket sector, in which smaller players have been dominated by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and the Safeway/Morrison groups. The four chains hold an 80 per cent share of the UK market. Somerfield is the UK's fifth-largest supermarket chain. The Somerfield group includes 664 Somerfield stores and 560 Kwik Save outlets. The group has annual sales of about £5bn.

Also:

Tesco continues to stretch its lead 29/07/2004 - Tesco strengthened its position as the leading grocer in the UK in the last quarter, with sales growth more than twice that of its nearest rival Asda. Upmarket retailer Waitrose also showed excellent growth, while Morrisons continued to be weighed down by its Safeway unit.

Tesco's share of the UK grocery market, according to till roll data analysed by TNS Superpanel, increased to 28.1 per cent in the 12 weeks to 18 July, with an 11 per cent increase in turnover despite widespread price cuts, validating the company's Every Day Low Price (EDLP) stance. Tesco and the other major EDLP operator in the UK (Asda) have been systematically cutting prices ahead of a perceived threat from Safeway as Morrisons works to bring its prices down into line with those of its main rivals. But the TNS data shows that while the Yorkshire-based retail group continues to outperform all its rivals - sales at the Morrisons fascia grew by 16 per cent during the period - it is still struggling to contain the flood of customers deserting Safeway, with the result that combined sales from the two fascias were flat and the group's market share fell to 13.9 per cent from 14.7 per cent. "It is only to be expected that the Safeway share will decline as store conversions to the Morrisons fascia get underway, but the fact that the combined share is declining increases the urgency of reversing the situation and establishing Morrisons as a national retailer," commented Edward Garner, communications director, TNS Superpanel. Nonetheless, data from analysts Goldman Sachs suggests that Safeway is beginning to close the pricing gap with the EDLP operators. under Morrisons' ownership, the price differential between Safeway and Asda (the cheapest UK grocer) has reduced from 25.6 per cent in February to 9.4 per cent in July on a non-promotion adjusted basis. Asda improved its situation slightly in the 12-week period, with sales up 7 per cent and market share up marginally to 16.5 per cent, while Sainsbury's lost ground, seeing its share fall from 16.3 per cent in 2003 to 15.5 per cent this year - although TNS Superpanel noted that this was a slight increase compared with the decline exhibited in the previous three 12-week periods, a result of price cutting activity. Waitrose, meanwhile, put in an excellent performance, lifting its sales by 9 per cent and its market share from 3.1 per cent to 3.2 per cent as a result of extending its store portfolio by 19 outlets (acquired from Safeway). The full impact of these new stores is still be felt, however, and the premium food retailer is expected to grow its share further despite the increasingly price-focused activities in the rest of the market. Among the smaller chains, Waitrose is a clear exception, with Somerfield, Iceland and Budgens all losing ground during the period. Somerfield continue to struggle with its Kwik Save discount unit - whose raison d'être is being increasingly obscured by the aggressive pricing of the multiples - which saw a 9 per cent drop in turnover. Iceland's recovery is still taking too long, with the chain's sales falling 5 per cent during the period despite more new-style stores being opened, while the Budgens convenience store group saw its sales fall 11 per cent as the multiple players tightened the screw in the high street market. Ironically given Kwik Save's continuing woes, the no-frills discount chains from the Continent gained substantial ground during the period, with Netto sales up 6 per cent, Lidl ahead 21 per cent and Aldi 7 per cent.

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Taste the difference ?

ewe!

Reply to
DrLargePants

We have taken to ignoring tescos, cos its vile, and using waitrose (slightly less vile) and the farmers market (usually cheapest of all for fresh stuff)

Or going to the specialist shops to get better prices than the supermarkets.

Or Ebay :D

I thimk I went in once to tescos all year. Sunday afternoon, and no where else open..

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Exactly.

De facto monopoly, and then when Prescott nationalises 'em, its Trabants, Trabants or Trabants mate!

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.