The Global Grocery and General Merchandising Market Marketing Essay
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The Global Grocery And General Merchandising Market Marketing Essay Jack Cohen founded Tesco in 1919 when he began to sell surplus groceries from a stall at Well Street Market, Hackney, in the East End of London (ironically, the market is now much smaller than in those days; a large Tesco Metro store now sits on the site.)[11] The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. The name came about after Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from T.E. Stockwell. He made new labels using the first three letters of the supplier’s name (TES), and the first two letters of his surname (CO), forming the word TESCO.[12] The first Tesco store was opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, Edgware, Middlesex. Tesco was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1947 as Tesco Stores (Holdings) Limited.[11] The first self-service store opened in St Albans in 1956 (which remained operational until 2010, with a period as a Tesco Metro),[13] and the first supermarket in Maldon in 1956.[11] During the 1950s and the 1960s Tesco grew organically, and also through acquisitions, until it owned more than 800 stores. The company purchased 70 Williamsons stores (1957), 200 Harrow Stores outlets (1959), 212 Irwins stores (1960, beating Express Dairies Premier Supermarkets to the deal), 97 Charles Phillips stores (1964) and the Victor Value chain (1968) (sold to Bejam in 1986).[14] Originally specialising in food and drink, it has diversified into areas such as clothing, electronics, financial services, telecoms, home, health, car, dental and pet insurance, retailing and renting DVDs,[10] CDs, music downloads, Internet services and software. Tesco, Britain’s biggest and most profitable supermarket chain, is the darling of the City. But behind the fascia of the ‘under one roof’ out-of-town Tesco Extra, or the friendly high street Tesco Metro, lies a ruthless billion pound operation. In recent years, Tesco and its major supermarket rivals have faced criticism for abusing their monopoly positions and contributing to some of the major social and environmental problems plaguing society today. These include exploiting small farmers in the UK and worldwide and hastening their replacement with industrial monoculture plantations where wages are low and labour rights are minimal; undercutting almost every other retailer and hence turning our town centres into boarded-up ghost towns; co-operating with climate criminals, Esso, as well as numerous other corporate crimes. Tesco operates 923 stores and employs 240,000 people, giving access to a population of 260 million across nine markets. Over the past five years, they have expanded from traditional UK supermarket base into new countries, products and services, including a major non-food business, personal finance and internet shopping. The increasing scale and internationalization of our sales and purchasing operations makes a significant contribution to our efficiency and profitability, as we progress towards our long-term goal of becoming a truly international retailer. ~ TESCO’S STRATEGIC OPTIONS: GENERIC STRATEGIES Generic Strategies are characterised by an individual retailer’s response to the industry structure. For a giant retailer, such as Tesco, to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage they should follow either one of three generic strategies, developed by Porter. The first strategy of cost leadership is one in which Tesco can strive to have the lowest costs in the industry and offer its products and services to a broad market at the lowest prices. This strategy will be based on the Tesco’s ability to control their operating costs so well that they are able to price their products competitively and be able to generate high profit margins, thus having a significant competitive advantage. If Tesco uses another strategy of differentiation, than it has to try to offer services and products with unique features that customers value. Tesco will be able to create brand loyalty for their offerings, and thus, price inelasticity on the part of buyers. Breadth of product offerings, technology, special features, or customer service are popular approaches to differentiation. The last strategy of focus can be either a cost leadership or differentiation strategy aimed toward a narrow, focused market. In pursuing a cost leadership strategy Tesco focuses on the creation of internal efficiencies that will help them withstand external pressures. Therefore, it appears reasonable to think that Tesco will have frequent interactions with the governmental/regulatory and supplier sectors of the environment. In accordance to this framework, while both overall cost leadership and differentiation strategies are aimed at the broad market, Tesco may also choose to confine their product to specific market areas or may choose to offer a smaller line of products to the broad market, thus pursuing a strategy of focus or niche (Porter, 1980). In other words, Tesco pursues a strategy of cost leadership or differentiation either in a specific market or with specific products. The danger some organisation face is that they try to do all three and become what is known as stuck in the middle. In case of Tesco it is not appropriate, as they do have a clear business strategy with a clearly defined market segment. ~MARKET OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTATION Strategy frameworks and structuring tools are key to assessing the business situation. Risk and value trade-offs are made explicit, leading to concrete proposals to add value and reduce risk. Explicit plans for action, including effective planning need to be developed by Tesco as the strategic alternative. From the generic strategies discussed above, Tesco is likely to employ two strategic options that are also likely to be primary market objectives of focus on market development though partnerships and diversification through new product development. Market Development Strategy: Joint Developments and Strategic Alliances By entering new markets like China and Japan it can serve as a key growth driver of the company’s revenues and expansion strategy. Tesco’s interests in Japan are likely to continue growing in due course, as Asian markets are showing an increase in consumer spending and increased trend towards retailing. These new markets are also demographically high opportunity markets. In the case of Tesco, one of the suggested strategic options is in international alliances with the local retailers in Asian markets. It will be considered as a method of development and may be formed to exploit current resources and competence. By entering into joint ventures or partnerships, in order to gain a larger economy of scale and larger market presence, Tesco will draw on the extensive local knowledge and operating expertise of the partner whilst adding its own supply chain, product development and stores operations skills to deliver a better shopping experience to customers. However, given the huge scale, potential and complexities of these markets, Tesco may feel that being the first mover is not necessarily an advantage. The success of the partnership will be related to three main success criteria: sustainability, acceptability and feasibility. Sustainability will be concerned with whether a strategy addresses the circumstances in which the company is operating. It is about the rationale of this expansion-market development strategy. The acceptability relates to the expected return from the strategy, the level of risk and the likely reaction of stakeholders. Feasibility will be regarded to whether Tesco has the resources and competence to deliver the strategy. Product Development: Diversification Johnson and Scholes (2003) believe that changes in the business environment may create demand for new products and services at the expense of established provision. Ansoff’s matrix also suggests that if new products are developed for existing markets, then a product development strategy has to be considered by the management level of a company. In expanding and diversifying Tesco’s product mix, it is also crucial to implement internal development when new products are developed. The nature and the extent of diversification should also be considered in relation to the rationale of the corporate strategy and the diversity of the portfolio. By following the changing needs of the customers Tesco can introduce new product lines. This may require more attention to R&D, leading to additional spending. The retailing industry is experiencing overcapacity and innovative services and products being the major competitive advantage. Therefore, innovation has to be a major driver for Tesco’s product development. For example, Tesco can develop a portfolio of different store formats in the UK, each designed to provide a different shopping experience. While the majority of Eastern European and Far Eastern outlets are hypermarkets, Tesco can also develop different store types in these markets as well. This value added by the uniqueness will eventually lead Tesco to command a premium price. The management of technological innovation is increasingly involved in strategic decision-making. Tesco have to exploit their internal strengths and minimise their internal weaknesses in order to achieve sustained competitive advantage (Although a competitive advantage is the goal innovators want to achieve, the ability to create platform(s) depends on how they could manage the innovation. Nevertheless, it does not mean that the innovator has to possess all requisite capabilities, the important thing is the ability to organise and use the capabilities of others in order to create a business platform). Tesco’s strategy is far ahead of Sainsbury – it has grown a strong UK core, and then rapidly developed international stores, built good non-food sales, expanded into retailing services and exploited e-commerce successfully Tesco’s success in recent years has mainly come from expanding overseas, shifting to ‘higher margin’ non-food merchandise and maintaining a strong UK core business. Its UK success has been built on low prices, cultivating customer loyalty, offering a range of different store concepts and expanding into retailing services, such as banking and insurance.