Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King has accused Tesco of failing to deliver for its customers. “They have not executed well for customers. All retailers struggle when they stop doing a great job for customers. It was true of us during the 1990s,” said King in a newspaper article. “We’ve been able to see for a long while that what we deliver in service in our shops is significantly better than Tesco.” He also suggested that large stores were no longer attractive to shoppers. “The issue is that certain people have executed big shops in a way that customers don’t like. We execute big shops in a way that customers do like.”
Philip Clarke, CEO of Tesco, believes that people are looking less for simple low prices but also want to see quality in their purchases. He has admitted that the Tesco stores have not had enough love lavished on them. As well as seeing more staff in the stores, he wants to promote Tesco products to marginal customers who may not usually go to stores.
Tesco will announce the results of a major strategic review of the retailer’s UK business on April 18. (10 Apr)
© 2012 ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
