tesco swot

Tesco PLC

Company Profile

Publication Date: 13 Aug 2010

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Tesco PLC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Company Overview..............................................................................................4

Key Facts...............................................................................................................4

SWOT Analysis.....................................................................................................5


Tesco PLCTABLE OF CONTENTS

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Tesco ("the company") is one of UK’s leading food and grocery retailers. The company operates inEurope, the US and Asia. Tesco is headquartered in Hertfordshire, the UK and employs about472,000 people.

The company recorded revenues of £56,910 million ($90,445.4 million) during the financial yearended February 2010 (FY2010), an increase of 5.6% over 2009.The operating profit of the companywas £3,457 million ($5,494.1 million) in FY2010, an increase of 9.1% over 2009. The net profit was£2,327 million ($3,698.2 million) in FY2010, an increase of 9.1% over 2009.

KEY FACTS

Tesco PLCHead OfficeNew Tesco HouseDelamare RoadCheshuntHertfordshireEngland EN8 9SLGBR

44 1992 632 222Phone

Fax

http://www.tescoplc.comWeb Address

56,910.0Revenue / turnover(GBP Mn)

FebruaryFinancial Year End

472,000Employees

TSCOLondon Ticker


Tesco PLCCompany Overview

SWOT ANALYSIS

Tesco is one of the UK’s leading food and grocery retailers. The company operates in Europe, theUS and Asia. The company over the years built a sustainable business and customer strategy anddifferentiated itself in a unique way with Clubcard, low prices and improvements to the customershopping trip which are likely to lead to permanent productivity gains. However, Tesco has beenlosing customers across all segments except for the more affluent customers as the competitionintensifies. This will adversely impact the revenues for the company.

WeaknessesStrengths

High cost of growth in Central Europeanmarkets compared to competitors

Sustainable business model throughdiversification and value orientation

The leading retailers win back the lostmarket share to discounters except Tesco

Gaining market share in non-foodcategories — primary growth driver in thefutureRetailing services — high margincomplementary businessHigh sales productivity in the UK facilitatedbetter than peers ROIC and profitabilityInvestments in IT led to operatingefficiencies

ThreatsOpportunities

Non-food product lines are likely to beadversely affected as the market is likely toexperience a low growth

Strong growth in South Korean, Chineseand Indian markets provide long termopportunities

Intense competition affected the customerretention adversely

Seamless integration of online channel inline with the rising preference for thechannel Restrictive legislations and strong lash out

from the communities is limiting expansionopportunities

Strong private label portfolio enables thecompany to effectively differentiateFocus on fresh produce and conveniencestore format in line with the changingconsumer preferences

Strengths

Sustainable business model through diversification and value orientation


Tesco PLCSWOT Analysis

Tesco is one of the leading retailers in the world and over the years aimed at building a sustainablebusiness model.Through diversification into new geographies, new product areas and new services,the company is developing a business for the future as this model will be sustainable for years tocome. In 2000, Tesco was operating in markets representing 8% of global GDP and currently itoperates across the globe in countries which contribute 53% of the GDP. About 65% of Tesco’sselling space is outside the UK.The company enjoys market leading position in many of the marketsoutside the UK. While in 1997 Tesco’s international business generated 1.8% of profits and thisgrew to 22% in 2010. Primarily, this strategy has given the business momentum to grow well throughthe economic downturn. By continuing to invest through the recession, the company is well placedto grow faster and improve shareholder returns as the global economic environment improves. Globalsourcing volumes have grown threefold in six years. Increasingly Tesco’s international businessesare also utilizing the scale and skill of the Tesco Group with more international sourcing. Furthermore,the company is replicating measures to gain market share on a global sale. Discount Brands arenow in seven markets, F&F clothing in ten countries, Clubcard introduced in seven countries withmore Clubcard holders internationally than in the UK.This is enabling sharing the global best practiceto the benefit of all the businesses to drive efficiencies and sales.

Another key factor that the company aimed at is building a sustainable business model throughvalue oriented retailing which is benefiting the customers and driving the footfall. Tesco introducedDouble Points through which the customers earned £550 million in total in vouchers. Double Pointshas encouraged more customers to sign up for the Clubcard, which is now used with a higherproportion of transactions than before and 18% more UK households are redeeming vouchers thana year ago. This has aided the like-for-like sales growth partially by 150-200 basis points. Tescofunded the majority of the investment in Clubcard program with cost savings and by wieldingefficiencies including £100 million ($158.9 million) in energy, £100 million ($158.9 million) in supplychain productivity and another £100 million ($158.9 million) in store labor productivity. Although, thecompany will not be able to fund higher investments in Double Points, nevertheless has gained theClubcard customer base. Through the recession Tesco also gained customers with lower pricedranges such as Discount Brands and Market Value and have also offered affordable treats such asthe Finest Restaurant Collection ready meals, which have been very popular. The value orientedtrends that have emerged owing to the recession are expected to remain so in the short-term.Thesetrends although will manifest are most likely indicating a permanent shift in the consumer behavior.Through the value oriented approach, Tesco is therefore driving the customer footfall which willfacilitate continuous customer acquisition even in a low growth environment.

The customer strategy is sustainable for the long term because Tesco can differentiate in a uniqueway with Clubcard, low prices and improvements to the customer shopping trip and these are likelyto lead to permanent productivity gains.

Gaining market share in non-food categories — primary growth driver in the future

Tesco aims at being an international retailer vis-a-vis an international grocer and has been focusingon non-food merchandise. The company was able to foray into the new product category effectively,establish its presence strongly and has been expanding its market share aggressively across all thecategories. In electrical category, with competitive prices, a wide range and with over 1,000 Tesco



Tech Support advisors in the UK stores to help customers make their choice, the company rapidlygrew its presence.Tesco now sells one in every six microwaves in the UK and one in four small-screenTVs. The sales in electricals have doubled in the last four years and around 20% are through onlinechannel. The company has doubled its market share in games during 2009 as a result of allocatingit more space in-store, revamping the range and layout and being more competitive on new releases.The company has been taking several measures to attain the competitive advantage compared tothe other retailers already present in the market. For example, Tesco teamed up with DreamWorksstudio for the exclusive rights to sell the short animated Christmas film Merry Madagascar. Thisgroundbreaking relationship was the first of its kind in the industry and enabled the company to sellover one million Merry Madagascar DVDs. Furthermore, sales in toys have grown 25% in FY2010with online sales up more than 60%; clothing sales grew by 7.3%, to reach £1billion ($1.5 billion) insales for the first time, helped by a 15% increase in children’s wear and the launch of the onlineclothing range.

Going forward, non food categories will be the primary growth driver for Tesco and its increasingmarket share in this segment will facilitate strong top-line growth. Also, the company has reacheda certain level of saturation in the UK markets.Tesco already reaches about 90% of the UK populationcompared to Morrison and Sainsbury in the 60-70% range. Due to this, it is more difficult to grow inthe UK without cannibalizing sales. For Tesco to grow profitably it has become imminent that it hasto sell other stuff (non food and services) to existing customers rather than attracting many morenew customers, which is very difficult as it has limited customer base to capture.

Tesco enjoys several unique competitive advantages which will help the company quickly penetratethe product category. Grocers have benefited from superior destination status and robust footfall inthe recession due to the needs-based nature of their core food offers and continued aggressivespace expansion. Also, the company offers lower pricing as it enjoys superior bargaining power. Aspart of drive to lower prices for customers, Tesco tries cut out the middlemen and source productsfrom manufacturers or developers, which is possible given the size of the company. Furthermore,the company is leveraging on the strength of its online channel to offer superior range. Tesco Directbridges the gap in range compared to the specialists with 12,500 products online, a non-food catalogueand 240 in-store desks, boosting Tesco’s range authority in a number of non-food categories andhelping it to compensate for lack of a full non-food offer in locations where a Tesco Extra is notpresent.

The company has been leveraging on its unique strengths as a leading grocer to improve its marketshare in non-food product categories. It has an established presence aided by several proactivemeasures. Non-food products will be primary growth drivers as the UK market reaches maturity andwill be key top-line driver for the company.

Retailing services — high margin complementary business

Tesco has increased focus on its retailing services business to drive incremental sales. As part ofthese services, the company offers online retailing, banking, telecom and market research. Each ofthese services are complementing each other and core retail operations.Through retailing services,the company aims at quickly adjusting to the change in customer shopping patterns.Tesco leveraged



on its strengths of large customer base, brand, large store network, Clubcard data and access tocustomer insights to build and grow its retailing services segment. Due to these factors, the customeracquisition costs are low and the company has an opportunity to grow scale quickly. Tesco’s storenetwork provided it with servicing and distributing capability that is a unique competitive advantage.Additionally, the access to customer insights enabled the company to develop customer centricproducts and services. The services have been positively contributing to the profitability with higherthan average operating margins and yields. For instance during 2008–09, the operating margin andReturn on Capital Employed (ROCE) of the group was 6% and 13% respectively while that of retailingservices have been 13% and 19%. Apart from the fact that services are higher margin offerings, thebusinesses are easily scalable as they are not restricted by the physical space. Additionally, thecompany is using its existing store assets for all of its services business which is also contributingpositively to the margins.

The retailing services have complemented the core retail business in several ways. The Clubcardprogram offers credit card which facilitates increased average spend. Tesco was also able to drivefootfall. For instance 46% of the Travel Money customers visited the store specifically to purchasecurrency. Bank branches, phone Shops and catalogue Shops will be drivers to visit stores as well.Tesco’s cost base was positively impacted by these services. For instance, Tesco pays over £100million ($158.9 million) per year to banks as interchange fees for card transactions. The retailingservices facilitated about 15% of credit card transactions in Tesco stores on a Tesco Bank CreditCard, therefore the company retains the interchange fees. According to the research conductedinternally by Tesco, customers who use two retailing services spend four times as much in storethan those who don’t use any Services and customers with a Tesco credit card spend about 30%more with Tesco than customers who don’t have a Tesco credit card. Furthermore, customers withtwo retailing services are 25% less likely to ‘lapse’ over a 12 month period than customers withoutservices. Lapse defined as customers who have dropped two or more share of spend categoriesover a 12 month period. These insights clearly indicate that the retail services are adding value tothe core retail operations.

Integrated retail services offer a unique competitive advantage for Tesco and provide severalopportunities to cross sell. Customers increasingly are expecting an integrated, multi-channel offerin which they can mix-and-match amongst delivery channels and ‘touch-points’ and the company’sservices provide these advantages. Tesco is expanding retailing services globally to leverage onopportunities in other markets as well. These services will drive margins and also will contribute torevenues incrementally.

High sales productivity in the UK facilitated better than peers ROIC and profitability

Tesco has been able to sustain high sales densities in the UK compared to its peers. In case of foodproducts the company’s sales density was over £23 ($36.6) while that of Sainsbury and Morrisonwas just bordering on £21 ($33.4) during 2008–09. Through the competitors were able to close thegap, Morrison still sells 10% less food compared to Tesco while Sainsbury sells 12.5% less. Highersales densities improve the profitability of the operations for the company’s stores.



Sales densities are the main push for value creation and also the main push for competitiveness inbidding for new sites. Sales productivity will enable Tesco to bid more for sites and sell groceriesfor less. Due to the high sales densities despite being a capital intensive industry, Tesco has beenable to sustain a superior Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) in the UK at 17-18% pre-tax for manyyears while other players were unable to even match their cost of capital. Sales productivity istherefore an important driver of profitability and is a key competitive advantage.

High sales productivity coupled with the scale of Tesco has driven profitability over the years. Theearnings before interest taxes depreciation amortization and rent (EBITDAR) for Tesco has beenhigher than its peers. EBITDAR margin for Tesco was 10.42% during 2008–09 and for Sainsburyand Morrison it was 8.6% and 8.1% respectively. As a result of higher sales densities and highermargins, Tesco has been able to consistently achieve higher returns than its peers.

The company has best in class sales densities, best in class margins and best in class ROIC in theUK. The gap between the peers has narrowed in the last few years, but Tesco has been able tosustain superior sales densities led by operational excellence. This will enable Tesco to weatherlow footfall and sluggish consumer spending effectively in the current scenario and as the company’ssales start improving, the bottom-line will be positively affected.

Investments in IT led to operating efficiencies

Tesco has focused on investments in information technology (IT) to optimize costs and enhanceperformance. The company has invested heavily in IT over the years, and this has played a strongrole in improving sales, the supply chain, and efficiency. Tesco has in place an in-house designedsupply chain application; in 2009, the company made several improvements in stock management.Tesco implemented more efficient ordering systems and introduced better in-store monitoringprocesses, which helped to increase availability of products in stores and reduce warehouse stock.These modifications will enable Tesco to cater to the requirements of the customers effectively whileoptimizing inventory costs.

Tesco improved customer service by increasing investment in self-service checkouts which accountedfor a quarter of all its transactions by the end of 2009. Such measures ensure cost efficiency andlead to less waiting lines for customers, which enhances their in-store experience. To further gainon customer service arena, Tesco, has implemented customer relationship management (CRM)system as well. To increase the convenience for customers, the company introduced an applicationfor iPhone which allows customers to store their Clubcard, the Tesco loyalty card, on their phoneand swipe it at the till instead of the card.

Also during 2009, the company rolled out another CRM solution. Tesco expects to vastly improvethe electronics division of the company, Tesco Digital, with the software-as-a-service tool beingimplemented alongside its call centre workers to respond to queries and problems which crop up.The system will be able to manage and log all customer interactions, with phone, email and onlinemessaging conversations all documented to gather relevant information about individual consumersin order to relate to them. This will improve the customer service and also the customer experience.



Tesco achieved £550 million ($873.9 million) savings in 2009 in the UK under its Step Changeefficiency program, which involves IT improvements along with other general process efficiencies.Tesco under the same program aims at higher savings in 2010 as part of its goal of saving £800million ($1,271.2 million) in 2010/2011. These savings have boosted Tesco’s profits in the 52 weeksended 27 February 2010. The company’s group profit before tax for the period was 10.4% higherthan the same period in 2008–09.

Strong focus on IT has lead to increased efficiencies, higher savings which are converted in to higherprofits. Additionally, Tesco through investments in IT is enhancing the customer service. Retailenvironment in advanced economies is mature and is characterized with intense competition. Gainingefficiencies and savings through IT will be a key competitive advantage. Additionally, enhancedcustomer service will enable Tesco to retain customers effectively.

Weaknesses

High cost of growth in Central European markets compared to competitors

Tesco operates a high capital intensive model in Central Europe which is placing it at a disadvantagecompared to the competitors. High capital compared to peers is leading to lower capital turnoverwhich is pressurizing the ROIC. A decline of ROIC is more of a concern as it is not affecting all theplayers. Some players such as Biedronka in Poland and BIM in Turkey, the respective market leadershave been able to sustain high ROIC even in tough economic circumstances. These companieshave continued to report very solid like-for-like sales and are expanding aggressively. Also, Colruytin Belgium can be taken as a comparison as it has a number of similarities with Tesco. It is a companyoperating in a mature market whose business model is also freehold based (where the stores arein freehold premises rather than in malls). It achieves similar sales densities to Tesco in the UK andalmost identical EBITDAR margins. Both companies have been growing sales organically by anaverage of 9% over the last five years. However, this growth was achieved with a capex to salesratio of just 3.5% at Colruyt which compares with Tesco’s 7.4% capex/ sales ratio in the same period.This indicates that Colruyt is yielding the same growth for lesser capital. Similarly, in Poland Tescohas net invested capital of about four times more than Biedronka, at about E2 billion compared toE0.5 billion and yet Biedronka's sales in 2009 amounted to E3.7 billion while Tesco’s sales wereestimated to be around E2.2 billion. A key factor explaining this is that Tesco owns most of thefreehold while Biedronka is 90% leasehold. Despite the different models, both the companies aimat generating more profits out of capital spent and this profit is significantly higher at Biedronka.Committing less capital allows a company to operate with a lower EBIT margin and still make asatisfactory return. Lower build costs should also mean lower maintenance costs. Furthermore,because of its limited range, Biedronka concentrates its purchasing power into fewer SKUs about800 SKUs or E4.6 million ($6.4 million) sales per SKU in 2009 against Tesco which may sell 30,000SKUs or E0.07 million ($0.1 million) per SKU.These figures further reiterate the fact that comparativelyTesco is less profitable despite its size and other obvious advantages of a large hypermarket model.

While in the UK, most of Tesco’s competitors operate models that are equally capital intensive, withthe obvious exception of the discounters, in Central Europe, Tesco is more exposed to the capital



light competition from players like Biedronka in Poland, Lidl and Kaufland in several markets or BIMin Turkey. The company’s international returns have scope for improvement as there are severalcompanies in the sector that operate lighter capex formats yet are more competitive. Overall, thegrowth in Central Europe is costlier for Tesco limiting its opportunities.

The leading retailers win back the lost market share to discounters except Tesco

During the recession, all the four leading retailers in the UK have lost customers to discounters.However, except for Tesco, the others gained back the market share leaving the company in adisadvantageous position.The big four supermarkets have boosted their share once more to 83.5%from 80.3%. Several factors like pricing, range enhancement, quality and store expansion led to thisrecovery. However, among the big four, Morrison, Asda and Sainsbury all gained share but Tescolost 0.2 percentage points to 30.9%. The biggest gain came for Morrison, taking its share of mainusers to 14.5% from 12.6%. Tesco’s 30.9% main user share is 2.1 percentage points off its peak oftwo years previously and its 56.8% visitor penetration is 2.2 points off its peak of one year previously.Tesco was unable to gain the lost market share which further deteriorated even if by a smallpercentage. Despite its efforts to incorporate changes in line with the shift in consumer behavior,the company trailed its competitors in gaining the market share.

Opportunities

Strong growth in South Korean, Chinese and Indian markets provide long term opportunities

Tesco’s business in Asian countries will benefit from the strong growth rates in these countries.Asia’s retail sales are estimated to increase with China driving the growth. China's retail sales areestimated to grow at 16% in 2010. China's retail sales rose 17.9% and stood at CNY2.5052 trillion($366.9 billion) in January and February of 2010 according to latest figures released by the NationalBureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the IMF forecasts developing Asia is estimated to grow at7% in 2010 compared to the growth rate of 0.6% in developed economies. Asia is further estimatedto lead the world in terms of growth rates. The growth in Korea is estimated to outpace the world in2010 by growing at nearly 4%. The retail industry in India is large owing to large population and isset to grow as several factors contribute. Industry reports forecast that total retail sales will growfrom INR16.3 trillion ($353.0 billion) in 2010 to INR25 trillion ($543.2 billion) by 2014. These growthrates present strong opportunity for Tesco to expand in these regions.

The company has established itself in several of these countries and is deriving significant benefits.Profits in Asia grew by 24% with margins strengthening significantly in the second half with 6.1%compared to 4.3% in the first half. The company continued to invest through the downturn to ensurethat it will be in an even stronger position as the economies recover. In FY2010, Tesco opened 3.0million square feet of new space across the region, an increase of more than 10% and the companyplans to open 4.9 million square feet in FY2011.Tesco also is focusing on developing a strong brandin most of then Asian markets with further expansion of Clubcard and Retailing Services businesses.In India, the company already has an exclusive franchise agreement with Trent, the retail arm of the



Tata Group.The company plans to open first cash and carry store by the end of 2010 in India furtherstrengthening its presence in the country.

Seamless integration of online channel in line with the rising preference for the channel

The online channel has been gaining popularity in the UK and customers expect to be able to shopwhere and when they want. Tesco over the years has invested in the internet channel and it is oneof the most profitable online grocery retailers in the world. As the shopping habits change, thecustomers want to buy online as well as from stores and catalogues and many will use a combinationof these to research before buying. With an integrated multichannel approach Tesco has broaderappeal for the customers, enabling them to shop whichever way they. In addition to the 15,500products available online through Tesco Direct, the company also launched two new specialistwebsites in October, for clothing and entertainment.

Online shopping is estimated to boom in the medium to long term. Online retail is set to experienceincreased growth and reach £31.2 billion ($48.8 billion) by 2013, accounting for 10.0% of total retailspending. In addition, the online channel has several counter recessionary characteristics as theinternet prices are cheaper due to decreased costs and customers find it a convenient alternative.Tesco’s penetration into online retailing provides the company an opportunity to expand theaddressable market, address the customer needs effectively and also participate in the high growthmarket.

Strong private label portfolio enables the company to effectively differentiate

The market trends suggest that the private label market is estimated to grow enabling Tesco toleverage on its strong portfolio. Private label products have been gaining prominence as the customersare trading down. The private labels target the value conscious customer base effectively as theyare cheaper than the national brands by 30%. Europe is the largest market for private label productsglobally. Within Europe, the UK is the largest private label market by size, followed by Germany.Private label penetration in the UK is close to 37% in 2010, and is forecast to exceed 40% by 2011.

Tesco continues to innovate in the private label segment with over 2,600 new or improved food lineslaunched just in 2010. The company follows a good, better and best ranges across the private labelcategory. Due to this, Tesco was able to sell effectively to price sensitive customer base. However,as the economy starts to emerge from recession customers are likely to switch over to the premiumrange. Private label brands increase the loyalty of the customers and are the key differentiators.They also are the higher margin products for the retailers.Tesco extended the private label innovationto the electricals and has been able to appeal to the customer base. The company’s Tecknika brandis the fifth biggest selling TV brand in the UK.This indicates that customers are increasingly acceptingthe private label across the product categories. This enables Tesco to carve a niche in the marketand effectively differentiate itself.The focus on private label brands enabled the company to establisha strong presence in some of the fast growing markets amid the adverse economic conditions. Thiswill help Tesco to improve the revenues and margins and to create a competitive advantage.

Focus on fresh produce and convenience store format in line with the changing consumer preferences



The consumer behavior has witnessed a shift in the recent times. In the recent times, the trend ofeating at home has emerged and more and more customers in the UK are preferring to cook athome from the scratch. Furthermore, the health and nutrition concerns are also the likely drivers ofthe trend. Entertaining at home is catching up also because the customers are more value consciousand are reducing spending. Owing to such behavioral patterns, according to Verdict (Datamonitor’sresearch arm), the fruit and vegetables are estimated to record highest CAGR of 24.6% among thefood products. There will be an increased demand for locally sourced fruit and vegetables, withshoppers willing to pay premium for such products.

Tesco has been one of the largest food retailers in the UK and already enjoys significant benefitswith an established customer base. The company has increased the focus on fresh food and itsquality. Improved technical standards, additional specialist staff training, closer relationships withthe suppliers and significant changes to merchandising strategy of some key products are helpingto deliver a stronger range and better shopping experience for customers.These and other initiativesenabled the company win the ‘Fresh Produce Retailer of the Year’ Award in 2009. Quality freshproduce has gained prominence during the recessionary environment as the customers areincreasingly eating at home as well. Tesco is aiming at increasing the proportion of local produceto improve quality. The focus on fresh produce will impact the sales positively.

The company has also over the past ten years built a store portfolio of convenience formats, whichhas been appealing to the customers. Tesco has been opening smaller format and conveniencestores over the past 10 years to tap the trend for more local shopping.The company is targeting thistrend and estimates a potential for another 1,000 Tesco Express shops. Tesco has a network of2,482 shops and just 455 of those are superstores. It has over 1,100 Tesco Express and 181 Metroshops, both of which are local convenience stores. The smaller formats have been a key growtharea for Tesco over the past several years as the trends in British grocery shopping have changeddramatically. There has been a significant swing away from huge, out-of-town supermarkets andtowards more local shopping and Tesco has responded to that.

Customers are using local shops more frequently to top up their shopping with fresh produce or"food for now". This means that high street or local presence is becoming much more important forfood retailers. As a result of this the convenience store market is now outpacing the growth of theUK general grocery market. According to the recent media reports, the UK convenience market wasworth £30.9 billion ($49.1 billion) in June 2010 and is forecasting it will reach £41.3 billion ($65.6billion) by 2015. Tesco moved into the convenience store market early when it bought 1,200 T&SStores in 2002, which has given it an advantage against competitors like Asda who have no presencein these markets. These store formats effectively address the increasing popularity of conveniencestores. These stores also allocate high proportion of floor space to the food. Tesco’s focus on freshproduce and other food products in its other formats will also drive footfall.

Threats

Intense competition affected customer retention adversely



Tesco in the times of economic downturn has been losing the customer base. Lower prices andsharper promotions are maintaining Tesco’s appeal to a broad customer base and driving robustsales growth. However, for the second time in seven years, the company has lost main user share.While the previous fall was prominent among Abs (High income class customers), this time it isamong C1, C2, D and Es (lower income class customers). These customer categories are highlyprice sensitive and have been easy targets for the discounters and other cheaper alternatives toTesco. Key rivals have taken a more aggressive stance on price and enhanced their private labelranges. Tesco has gained share of ABs, testament to the retailer’s clear value focused propositionand diverse store format that caters for a broad range of shopping trips. The company’s directcompetitors Asda and Morrison continue to make efforts to gain market share and Waitrose at thepremium end of the market picking up share on the back of aggressive space expansion and theintroduction of its Essentials range. Competition has intensified dramatically and consumers areshopping around. With price becoming a more influential factor, key rivals taking a more aggressivestance on price and enhancing their private label ranges, the group of price sensitive shoppers wereenticed to seek out cheaper alternatives to Tesco. Tesco has lost main user share and visitorpenetration in all socio-economic segments except ABs. Although the company is still ahead of thefield, but the market is showing signs of a hard battle to defend itself against formidable competitionfrom a position of saturation. Tesco has worked hard to retain and attract customers through itsloyalty scheme, price-led proposition, consistent value message and enhanced value ranges –including the Discounter range. All these efforts have not paid back and Discounter brand breedsconfusion among the shoppers indicating that the proposition is not clear. Though the launch of itsDiscounter range has reduced the exodus of shoppers to hard discounters, it has impacted salesas shoppers have traded down to the new items. The addition of the new range has also made itsonce simple range architecture complex, making the entire offer more expensive for a large proportionof shoppers. Moreover, its once clear brand and marketing image has been confused by the Britain’sBiggest Discounter message.

Furthermore, the company has built hypermarket model in the Europe, which has been registeringweakness in the recent times. The factors that have contributed to the increase in conveniencemodel have been pressurizing the sales in hypermarkets. Against the backdrop of challenging tradingconditions, hypermarkets with high focus on non-food sales have suffered. Hypermarkets havesuffered a significant drop in footfall as consumers cut back on discretionary expenditure and tightentheir spending. According to the findings of a survey conducted by Datamonitor, for most consumers,a revamped neighborhood store is easier and more convenient to reach than an out-of-townhypermarket. Also, a growing number of single person households means that more people will beshopping for one, and the propensity for a large weekly shop at an out of town hypermarket willdecline. Furthermore, the convenience of ordering online and having it delivered is also growingthreat hypermarkets or supermarkets. Considering all the factors industry reports suggest marketsaturation in most Western European countries is nearing. The major hypermarket companies arerestricted from pursuing organic growth in their home markets due to governmental restrictions onland development. Although the degree of influence varies across the continent, the trend that sawshoppers going outside of local high streets for their shopping has, to an extent, been arrested. Thechanging demographics and the economic environment has led to structural decline in traffic in tohypermarkets. Another format that has been benefitting a lot in recent times have been thediscounters. In most of the markets in Europe the top retailers have been the discounters. In Germany,



discounters account for over 40% of the food sold in the country. In Poland or Turkey, the marketleaders are limited range discounters.

Another competition that is brewing up is the foray of Amazon into online grocery market. Amazonis a leading online retailer and has best in class distribution and marketing, access to suppliers ofall sorts of specialty items and the experience of dealing with 160 million customers worldwide.Although Tesco is a leading retailer in the food products segment and Amazon has little experience,it has been observed over the years that in the online retail market, whether companies stand or fallon the quality of their technology and logistics. In that context, Amazon can be a formidable competitor.Already, electricals, books, music — all non-food key areas for Tesco — are exactly the productranges in which Amazon excels. The launch of groceries may also threaten the power that Britain'ssupermarkets have over product suppliers. There were some clear hints from several productproducers large and small that their support for Amazon's launch reflects some frustration over theway in which they have been treated by the grocery sector over the years. While in the UK Tescohas been losing customers amid intense competition, the other markets have been witnessing aweakness in the hypermarket model.These factors have made customer retention a primary concernfor the company. Despite the loyalty schemes, the factors may adversely affect the market share ofTesco.

Restrictive legislations and strong lash out from the communities is limiting expansion opportunities

Construction of the huge format retail park stores that the likes of Tesco have favored over the pastdecade is now beginning to slow, due to the limitations imposed by various different planningrestrictions.This includes the various difficulties of obtaining A1 food retailing clearance a particularlysignificant factor. In February 2008 the UK’s Competition Commission (CC) recommended acompetition test to prevent firms with a strong presence in an area from building new stores or makingmajor extensions to their outlets. Retailers will only pass the test if they are new to the area, or ifthere are four or more different supermarkets in a 10- minute drive of the proposed site.Where thereare three or fewer grocers in the area, the application will only be approved if it does not then accountfor more than 60% of total retail space. These restrictions are likely to force grocers place a greaterfocus on smaller neighborhood and high street stores, which will have less space available to allocateto non-food. This leaves Tesco with a choice of opening stand alone stores for its non-food relatedmerchandise which limits leveraging on its strong customer base. However, Tesco has not yetperfected the format, the main issue being their inability to create suitably aspirational storeenvironments. Instead they have attempted to replicate the same model they use in food stores –but without footfall driving grocery products. This has proved insufficient to entice shoppers.

Furthermore, the company has been witnessing severe lash out from the local communities in therecent times.This is lengthening the process of opening new stores and also is tarnishing the goodwillof the company among these communities. In August 2010, a planning condition forced the companyto pay for marketing initiatives, road improvements, a bus service, community woodland and gatewayfeature for the entrance to the fishing town. Tesco has channeled more than £400,000 ($635,708)into a Moray town centre to mitigate the impact of its new £10 million ($15.9 million) store. Severalbusiness men across the town center have criticized Tesco and said the contribution was notsubstantial enough.These factors have been stalling the quick store opening plans and the company



is also forced to pay a large sum of money. In another instance, campaigners fighting to preventTesco building a £40 million ($63.6 million) superstore at Whitby, North Yorkshire were successfulas the planning commission refused to grant permission. Almost 4,000 people had signed a petitionobjecting to Tesco developing land owned by a group of nuns. Tesco has submitted an applicationfor a new shop in Glastonbury to Mendip District Council and opposition to the store started to heatup in July 2010. A Facebook group called "No to Tesco in Glastonbury" has already attracted 135members and on Tuesday morning, residents were in the high street with a petition asking peopleto oppose the plans. During the same month, plans to build a supermarket in Tenbury have failedto gain the support of planning officers as Tesco wanted to build a 15,000 square feet store on thetown’s former cattle market. Apart from the regulations, the resistance from local communities isstalling the expansion plans for Tesco. Availability of land has been an issue and there has been asevere backlash partly because the company is resorting to development in lands owned by localcitizens. These factors are severely restricting the expansion opportunities for Tesco.

Non-food product lines are likely to be adversely affected as the market is likely to experience a lowgrowth

The UK retail market is expected to witness low growth rates in the short term.The market contractedby 0.4% in 2009 and in 2010 a marginal growth of 1.3% is estimated. Non-food retail is estimatedto suffer a contraction of 1.8% in first quarter of 2010 and will return to positive growth only by fourthquarter of 2010. The trend is expected to continue till 2013 and the markets are predicted to up to3% till 2013. Low growth markets not only shrink revenues and sales for Tesco, but the competitionwill further intensify as several players will compete for a small market growth. The scenario willhave an adverse impact on the expansion plans of the company as it has in recent times concentratedon non-food products as primary growth driver.



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