Tesco


Tesco plc is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Sir Jack Cohen in Hackney, London, in 1919. In 2011, it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in the world measured by revenues. It is the market leader of groceries in the UK. As well as the United Kingdom, Tesco has stores in Czechia, Ireland, Slovakia, the Isle of Man and Hungary.
Since the 1960s, Tesco has diversified into areas such as the retailing of books, clothing, electronics, furniture, toys, petrol, software, financial services, telecommunications and internet services. In the 1990s, Tesco re-positioned itself from being a downmarket high-volume low-cost retailer, attempting to attract a range of social groups with its low-cost "Tesco Value" range and premium "Tesco Finest" range.
Tesco is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

Origins

, the son of Jewish migrants from Poland, founded Tesco in 1919 when he began to sell war-surplus groceries from a stall at Well Street Market, Hackney, in the East End of London. The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. The name came about after Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from Thomas Edward Stockwell. He made new labels using the initials of the supplier's name, and the first two letters of his surname, forming the word TESCO.
After experimenting with his first permanent indoor market stall at Tooting in November 1930, Jack Cohen opened the first Tesco shop in September 1931 at 54 Watling Avenue, Burnt Oak, Edgware, Middlesex. Tesco was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1947 as Tesco Stores Limited. The first self-service shop opened in St Albans in 1948, and the first supermarket in Maldon in 1956.

Expansion

During the 1950s and 1960s, Tesco grew organically, and also through acquisitions, until it owned more than 800 shops. The company purchased 70 Williamson's shops, 200 Harrow Stores outlets, 212 Irwins shops, 97 Charles Phillips shops and the Victor Value chain .
Jack Cohen's business motto was "pile it high and sell it cheap", to which he added an internal motto of "YCDBSOYA" which he used to motivate his sales force.
In May 1987, Tesco completed its hostile takeover of the Hillards chain of 40 supermarkets in the North of England for £220 million.
In 1994, the company took over the supermarket chain William Low after fighting off Sainsbury's for control of the Dundee-based firm, which operated 57 shops. This paved the way for Tesco to expand its presence in Scotland, in which its presence was weaker than in England.
Tesco introduced a loyalty card, branded 'Clubcard' in 1995, and later an Internet shopping service. In 1996, the typeface of the logo was changed to the current version with stripe reflections underneath, whilst the corporate font used for shop signage was changed from the familiar "typewriter" font that had been used since the 1970s. Overseas operations were introduced in the same year. Terry Leahy assumed the role of Chief Executive in February 1997.
In March 1997, Tesco purchased the retail arm of Associated British Foods, which consisted of the Quinnsworth, Stewarts and Crazy Prices chains in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and associated businesses, for £640 million. The deal was approved by the European Commission in May 1997.
The company was the subject of a letter bomb campaign lasting five months from August 2000 to February 2001, as a bomber calling himself "Sally" sent letter bombs to Tesco customers and demanded that Clubcards be modified to be capable of withdrawing money from cash machines.

Diversification

In the 1960s, Tesco expanded the range of products it sold to include household goods and clothing under the Delamare brand, and in 1974 opened its first petrol station.
In 2001, Tesco became involved in internet grocery retailing in the US when it obtained a 35% stake in GroceryWorks.
In 2002, Tesco purchased 13 HIT hypermarkets in Poland. It made a major move into the UK's convenience shop market with its purchase of T&S Stores, owner of 870 convenience shops in the One Stop, Dillons, and Day & Nite chains in the UK.
In June 2003, Tesco purchased the C Two-Network in Japan. It acquired a majority stake in the Turkish supermarket chain Kipa. In January 2004, Tesco acquired Adminstore, owner of 45 Cullens, Europa, and Harts convenience shops, in and around London.
In Thailand, Tesco Lotus was a joint venture of the Charoen Pokphand Group and Tesco but, facing criticism over the growth of hypermarkets, CP Group sold its Tesco Lotus shares in 2003.
In late 2005 Tesco acquired the 21 remaining Safeway/BP shops after Morrisons dissolved the Safeway/BP partnership.
In 2006, Tesco announced plans to move into the United States by opening a chain of small-format groceries in the Western states in 2007 named Fresh & Easy. Tesco pulled out of the United States market in 2013, following performance issues.

2010s

In 2010, Tesco started funding a small film studio intended to produce Tesco-exclusive direct-to-DVD films. The first film was released on 6 September called Paris Connections, based on a popular novel by Jackie Collins.
In 2013, Tesco pulled out of its US market stores in April, after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, at a reported cost of £1.2 billion. In September, Tesco announced that it would sell the business to Ronald Burkle's Yucaipa Companies for an undisclosed amount. That same month, Tesco launched its first tablet computer, a seven-inch model called Hudl. Tesco also purchased the restaurant and cafe chain Giraffe for £48.6 million.

In 2015, Tesco sold its Blinkbox on-demand video service and its fixed-line telephone and broadband business to TalkTalk. In January, Tesco sold the Blinkbox Music streaming service to now-defunct Guvera, and confirmed it would close its Blinkbox Books service by the end of February.
In 2016, Tesco confirmed it was seeking to sell Dobbies Garden Centres, Giraffe Restaurants, and Harris + Hoole to concentrate on its main supermarket business.
In 2017, Tesco reached an agreement to merge with Britain's biggest wholesaler Booker Group. There were concerns over market dominance with Tesco being Britain's largest food retailer and Booker being the UK's largest wholesaler. In April, the company sold its in-shop opticians' business to Vision Express. In June, Tesco announced a major cost-cutting initiative that would reduce the company's workforce by over 1,200 workers. Key reductions included over a quarter of its employees in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, and the closure of the call centre in Cardiff. The company hoped to reduce costs by £1.5 billion.
In 2019, Tesco announced another cost-cutting initiative that would close the food counters in 90 stores, affecting around 9,000 workers. In October 2019, Tesco announced that CEO Dave Lewis would step down in 2020, and would be succeeded by Ken Murphy.
In February 2020, Tesco announced the sale of its 20% stake in its Chinese joint venture with China Resources for £257 million. The joint venture, created in 2014, had taken over all of Tesco’s stores in China. In March 2020, Tesco announced the sale of its operations in Thailand and Malaysia, comprising 2,000 stores, to Charoen Pokphand Group for $10 billion. In June 2020, Tesco announced the sale of its operations in Poland, comprising nearly 300 stores, to Salling Group for £165 million.
In 2023, Tesco acquired all nine Shoprite shops on the Isle of Man from the Nicholson family who had built the chain up since 1972.
Its supports LGBTQ+ charities and organizations, and has made substantial donations to them. It regularly appears in Pride marches.

UK operations

As of April 2024, Tesco's UK shop portfolio was as follows:
FormatNumberTotal
area 		Percentage
of space
Large Store 80931,092,00066.8%
Convenience 2,0945,615,00012.1%
Dotcom only6716,0001.5%
One Stop7301,205,0002.6%
Booker1907,951,00017.1%
Total3,82946,579,000100.00%

Tesco

Hypermarkets

Tesco Extra shops are larger, mainly out-of-town hypermarkets that stock nearly all of Tesco's product ranges, although some are in the heart of town centres and inner-city locations. The largest shop in England by floor space is Tesco Extra in Walkden, with of floor space.
In common with other towns, such as Warrington, the St Helens shop, which at is one of the biggest in England, was developed on the same site as the town's new rugby league stadium.

Supermarkets

Tesco Superstores are standard large supermarkets, stocking groceries and a much smaller range of non-food goods than Extra hypermarkets. The shops have always been branded as 'Tesco', but a new shop in Liverpool was the first to use the format brand 'Tesco Superstore' above the door.
Tesco operates a number of in-shop cafes. Tesco began to introduce new restaurants in its shops from 2013 under the "Decks Carvery" brand.

Tesco Express

Tesco Express shops are neighbourhood convenience shops averaging, stocking mainly food with an emphasis on higher-margin products such as sweets, crisps, chocolate, biscuits, fizzy drinks, and processed food, alongside everyday essentials. This is due to small shop size, and the necessity to maximize revenue per square foot.
They are located in busy city-centre districts, small shopping precincts in residential areas, small towns, and villages, and on Esso petrol station forecourts. In 2010, it became known that Tesco was operating Express pricing, charging more in its Express branches than in its other stores. A spokesperson said that this was "because of the difference in costs of running the smaller shops".