Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, has always somewhat intimidated me. With 28 per cent of the grocery market share and more than 4,000 Tesco shops of one kind or another in the country, I’ve never quite felt it needs my custom. My local store is 120,000 sq ft, and as I’m not used to the layout, even though I go in every month or so, a shop there can feel more like an obstacle course than a trip to restock the fridge.
Nevertheless, I’ve been making more frequent visits recently and shopping with an open mind, looking for – and sometimes finding – unexpected products and discounts.
It’s easy to poke fun at Clubcard prices, but far harder to avoid them. Tesco shook up the loyalty card system when it launched two-tier pricing in 2019, offering huge reductions across such a wide range of products that every shopper might, eventually, feel compelled to join in.
I resisted for years but finally caved on a pre-Christmas booze deal. I’m still kind of annoyed about it but it makes no sense to shop in Tesco without a membership. Since then, most supermarkets have gone on to change their schemes and similarly penalise shoppers for refusing to hand over their data. Some loyalty.
Tesco is making a great effort to shift its image. Instead of being known as the largest supermarket with decent discounts, it wants to offer wider benefits. Chief executive Ken Murphy has set his sights on putting sustainability initiatives such as food waste front and centre, though the success has been mixed.
