All these new things make sure that the people in the UK continue to visit the Tesco’s here, which then helps Tesco make sure that the UK remains their core market.
Non food business is a very huge part in supermarkets nowadays. Many supermarkets aim to be as strong in non-food as they are in food. This is one of Tesco’s aims. This is so that they are able to provide more products to their customers and also if one supermarket does it, then to keep up, so do the others. Another reason for aiming and needing to be as strong in non food is so that it can increase their market share in the non food market, which will then help them get a better reputation and make a better profit, which is the main thing. Tesco also have their own non-food brands including the Value and Finest ranges. They also have their own clothing ranges Cherokee and Florence & Fred. Tesco offer many non food products such as:
- Electric Goods - Cook Shop - Furnishing Goods
- Home Entertainment Goods - White Goods
- Clothing (Cherokee, Florence & Fred) - Toys
- Home Shop - Lighting
They also provide mortgage and insurance. The things they provide are suitable for many different ages and groups of people. This is also a plus point.
At the moment, Tesco have a 6% share in the non-food business. Their share has risen by 1% since last year but to make sure that they are better known as a whole they need to increase that percentage of share. Their Value and Finest ranges have earned them 50% of their sale earnings, along with their Tesco range. There own clothing brands have made sales increase by 6 times the market rate. This is exceptional and shows that this has been a success for Tesco and shows that they can introduce more new things. These non-food aims will help Tesco make more of a profit as they are providing people with a wider choice of variety of products. Also if people have nearly everything in once place, it is easier for them, therefore Tesco would benefit very much as well as the customers.
Retailing services is the way in which a company sells its products and can also be what it sells. Tesco have many different ways in which they sell their products. One of them being selling them online. Tesco.com is the world’s biggest online supermarket. It also operates in countries such as South Africa and Republic of Ireland. A home phone service is also available. At first Tesco refused to jump straight into online shopping. They were criticised for it and are now the world’s largest online grocer. People who work long hours would prefer to shop on the computer from home rather than spending their spare time food shopping and online shopping would help them do so. At the end of the year 2000, Tesco had aimed to have 1 million customers shopping for groceries online. They have obviously achieved this as they are the biggest online supermarket. Tesco’s online shopping business covers 95 % of the UK population and Tesco say that they generate around 85,000 orders a week. Tesco’s online shopping business seems to have earned them £146 million. Tesco received £12 million worth of orders in the week before Christmas and their grocery vans were making a delivery somewhere in the UK every 3 seconds. No matter what it takes, Tesco are prepared to go to the extreme lengths to do what it takes to provide the required customer service. This also shows the success of their online shopping project. Tesco have also introduced Personal Finance for their customers. This includes home insurance, life insurance, car insurance, pet insurance and many more. They also provide loans for people and credit cards. Tesco have made their profit from their financing, by having their customers pay interest which then earns them a lot of money. In August 2003, Tesco’s Personal Finance had more than 4 million customer accounts. Tesco Personal Finance have a total of 3.4 million customers and the amount if increasing all the time. They aim to provide as much to their customers as they can and this will earn them a huge amount of money. TPF has been helped by the internet as many of the customers have access to it and therefore use it to do deals and so on. They are also very popular with providing loans to people. They have been awarded several times by magazines, for “Best Loan Provider”. This enhances their reputation as the readers of the magazines will read about it and if necessary will go to Tesco and see what is available to them. This shows that a lot of people had responded to Tesco’s introduction of something new and it enabled them to think of more innovative ideas which would help take them even further than they already are. They have now bought in more new products over the internet for their online customers and their flower site had an increase of 300% from last year. The introduction of two different things, online shopping and Tesco personal finance shows the capabilities of Tesco and shows how they are able to extend the Tesco brand.
Tesco aimed to expand into different countries and has been doing quite well so far. They have Tesco stores in the Czech Republic (12), Hungary (45), Poland (40), Republic of Ireland (76), Slovak Republic, Turkey, France (1), Japan, Malaysia, South Korea (7), Taiwan (1) and Thailand (24). By the end of 2002/2003, Tesco had market leadership in 6 of the 10 countries it had opened in. Also it had made a profit in 8 of its 10 markets. Tesco also aimed to open between 10 and 20 stores a year in Japan. Another reason for Tesco aiming to open stores and opening stores in different countries is so that they get a bigger name world-wide and so that they can become a household name all over the world. This is a very good aim as if it is a success, which it proves to have been so far, it’ll be very profitable. They have also decided to start Tesco online shopping in the US and see how it progresses over there. As Tesco’s home shopping business has seemed to do so well, they have introduced them in Ireland and Korea and are now able to be known as “an international dotcom retailer”.
On the whole, Tesco have been very successful internationally, especially compared to other supermarkets, but they can still aim to achieve higher, by introducing many of the things they have here, in other countries.
Internationally retailing-wise, Tesco have done unbelievably well as their home shopping seems to have been a great hit in the majority of the countries.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is all about everything outside the business but in some way associated to the business. It involves things about the environment, suppliers, farming, communities, charities, staff and lastly the customers. Tesco aim to help the society as much as they possibly can. By including themselves into helping the society they are helping themselves get a bigger name and gain more profit.
Tesco aim to minimise the amount of waste produced by recycling as much possible, wherever possible.
Tesco recycle old carrier bags to old mobile phones. They have recycled over 350,000 of their customers old mobile phones and 35,000 inkjet cartridges. The raised money then goes to charity.
Tesco have installed recycling bins outside the majority of their stores. This is so that things can be re-used rather than the items damaging the environment and making I a dangerous place. It is also so that it gives customers access to recycling banks and it is easier for them to just use it when they are going to do their shopping than having to especially go and find one to put your materials in.
Tesco aim to make the environment a better place and a safer place. Also reducing the amount of carbon dioxide helps the environment too. They receive a payment for gases saved and then put that money back into saving more energy.
Tesco aim to act responsibly in all their activities. Also the safety of the employees of the suppliers is very important.
Tesco buy their products from their suppliers in a finished state. By this it means, that they are washed, processed and packed before being delivered to Tesco. This also means that Tesco do not do anything to the products. The supplier’s employees need to be dealt with fairly and honestly and hence them having to be paid what they deserve.
An aim of Tesco’s is to produce high quality products and to do this their suppliers need to be trained and Tesco are the ones who need to help develop their skills. They also try to help uncomplicate matters in the global supply chain.
They try to communicate with the supply chain as much as possible to make sure that everything is running smoothly and so that they can help improve things. They aim to help their suppliers understand what the customers require. Another aim of theirs is to be associated by their customers with high standards.
Tesco aim to make sure that the fairtrade law is in place and that the entitled people get what they are rightly deserved to get.
Fairtrade makes sure that the producer gets something back for the work they have done. This is necessary, as for people who produce things in very poor countries they need some form of income and this is a little amount, which they are in desperate need of.
Also the producers can invest in other things with the money they receive.
For poorer countries this money is more than necessary, as it can help them put money into health services, schools, etc…
Tesco plan to grow its organic food sales to £1 billion within 5 years. By aiming to do this, they are setting themselves a target, which will help them try and achieve something. Tesco sell a range of organic products. They aim to support the organic farming industry to help get the best out of them.
Tesco aim to make a positive contribution to local communities. They aim to give over 1% of pre-tax profits to charity and community projects each year. They also aim to make a contribution to young people, students and employees, therefore they try to give a decent amount to schools and work places.
Over the last 12 years, Tesco have given £7 million worth of IT equipment to schools through their “Tesco Computers for Schools” scheme. They believe that they have a responsibility to contribute to the community as they think that the people in the community will be the people who their work force will soon have to rely on. By doing this they are giving back something to the people of the community who give Tesco a huge amount of their profits. Also helping local projects and schools earns them a great deal of respect from customers and this is what they are aiming for as well as a good reputation.
Tesco also joined up with the Police to advertise a nation-wide poster campaign to appeal for information about missing children. This shows that they acre about what is going on around them and that they know what they are required to do to gain people’s trust.
The Tesco Charity Trust aims to help local and national charities, as well as voluntary organisations, to provide support for children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Tesco aim to raise £2.5 million for Barnardos. In 2002, Tesco raised over £1.8 million for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. This shows that Tesco are committed to giving quite a bit of money and quite a lot of attention to charities and this will help get them a better reputation. Also, they are aiming for a certain amount to raise, which is a very good thing, as many people would think that charity work would not be on the top of their priority list and that they’d not pay much attention to it and by doing this they are proving people who did think this, wrong.
Tesco have the responsibility of making sure that their staff are happy. This is so that they can work well in a good environment. They also need to make sure that their employees are well trained and know what is required of them.
Tesco aim to serve their customers better all the time and therefore they need to train their staff to do so. Their training programmes aim to make sure that the people understand Tesco’s customer service objectives and how they need to be achieved. By doing this, they are showing that they are prepared to do what it takes to ensure that their customers are served in the right manner by the staff and are willing to base their training schemes around the customers.
Tesco staff are entitled to everything stated by the Human Rights Policy, which means they will not be treated unfairly. This is necessary because if the staff are not happy then this may affect them whilst working, which will then lead to the customer being affected in some way.
They also aim to be a good employer, attracting and keeping the best staff and making Tesco a rewarding place in which to work. This means that they aim to have content staff. They also try to make sure that their staff are committed to giving the best possible service to the customers.
Tesco also aim to provide as many jobs as possible to aid the unemployed. They aim to employ many different types of people and as they aim for their staff to represent the local communities which they serve, many of the job applicants are Tesco customers, which is very good for the Tesco business.
To achieve these aims, Tesco need to set certain standards and train and support their staff so they are able to reach these standards.
If their staff have any problems, they now have a confidential telephone helpline, which allows them to express any concerns they may have. This will help them get things off their chest and may also help them to work better.
Tesco are constantly told that their staff are of very high standard, by their customers, which shows that their training and development programmes are working and that they are achieving the aims they are setting for themselves.
How are they trying to meet their aims and objectives?
Tesco meet their aims and objectives by setting themselves targets to aim for and this is a way of helping them build up their business.
Tesco are keeping up with their aim of helping the community by making sure that they are investing in school/educational projects. They did this by giving computers to many schools around the UK. Their CSR website also helps the children in the community by giving them access to everything that happens in Tesco and this is a way of trying to help the community.
Also they are trying to provide as many jobs as possible to the unemployed in certain places, they have achieved this, as in Beckton, 480 jobs were created.
Tesco aim to make sure that their staff are kept happy, they are doing this by having various different training programmes to teach them different skills and if their staff are constantly learning new, exciting things they’ll enjoy themselves.
Tesco make sure that the Fairtrade law is in place so people get what they deserve. They try to do this by constantly being in contact with the people who sort these issues out.
Tesco also have adverts advertising products they sell. This is a good way of trying to reach the public, as the advert will be able to be seen everywhere. Advertising is the biggest way of attracting customers and is also a way in which Tesco can show their prices are the cheapest. Their company slogan ‘Every Little Helps’ is very catchy and is something that will stick in people’s heads. These advertising techniques help Tesco to try and meet their objectives.
Their aim of trying to make as much profit as possible is being helped by the fact that Tesco have gone international. This is a way in which Tesco are trying to meet one of their aims. Also in relation to this aim, is expanding internationally. They are trying to meet this aim by opening stores gradually all over Asia and Europe.
One of Tesco’s core purposes is to “understand customers better than anyone.” A way of trying do this is by having customer surveys. Tesco regularly ask their customers what they think, to ensure that they are always satisfied.
Another way in which they are trying to please their customers is by having a four store format. This is so that the customers have access to stores all the time, everywhere.
To meet their aim of making sure that their products are the cheapest, Tesco have employed a team of price checkers who, every week, check that Tesco’s prices are the best around.
In a business, satisfying customers is the most important thing, as they are the people who provide you with your service. Finding out their needs helps the business enormously. Tesco need to make sure that their customers are happy because if they are not, then they will not return. They make sure they are happy by introducing things such as ‘One In Front’. This is about when the customers are queuing up to pay for their items. When doing so, they are guaranteed that no more than one person will be in front of them. This is because customers do not like waiting minutes on end. If there is more than one person in front, at several different checkouts, then Tesco will have to open a new one.
How and why might their objectives change over time?
A business has to constantly keep up with the changes of their customers, which means that they have to regularly change things or maybe introduce new things. Another reason for having to change things is maybe because other companies have introduced something new and to make sure that you don’t have a decrease in profits and in customers, you have to introduce the same sort of thing.
Tesco believe that as their customers shopping habits change, they should change and respond to the change by providing new products and services.
