Tesco aims:
“We aim to be as strong in non-food as we are in food”
Tesco has many competitors within the UK and all over the world, they are ever expanding to attempt to be the most popular.
Customers of larger stores drive up to 20 minutes to shop and the report shows that on this basis more than 90% of the urban population have access to three or more larger supermarkets. When you add in smaller stores, discounters, Marks and Spencer and internet shopping the choice is even greater."- Terry Leahy
There is such a vast choice of places to shop, so Tesco needs to entice customers to shop with them and stick with them. They do this through constant advertising and promotions. Tesco aims to be in the public eye as much as possible so when you think of shopping you think Tesco. As the quote says, Tesco has main stores that people spend a considerable amount of time travelling too. They also have Tesco Express stores which are small stores dotted about, this is for convenience that if a customer needs a few items, they don’t have to travel to a big store out of town if they prefer shopping with Tesco. It stops them using any other retailer. Again keeping customers brand loyal. The main rivals to Tesco in the UK are Asda and Sainsbury’s, just because of the fact that they are the other two most established retailers with a substantial customer base.
Feb’ 2006 Market share
Tesco: 30.6%
Asda: 16.6%
Sainsbury's: 16.3%
Morrison's: 11.1%
Somerfield: 5.4%
Waitrose: 3.7%
Iceland: 1.8%
Tesco are a clear market leader within the UK. Asda and Sainsbury’s are in close competition. Tesco are ever expanding and increasing their market share in the UK and global market. In the above ’06 stats shown, Tesco had increased their share by 0.1% in 1 month. The other competitors had stayed the same apart from Sainsbury’s increasing their percentage by + 1% making them ever closer to Asda.
There are lots of different positions within Tesco, these all need filling and to get the best possible candidate for the job Tesco has a specially designed recruitment process.
There are 5 main general job roles within Tesco, these are Managers, Supervisors, IT Operatives, Administrator & Customer services operative.
Manager – Tesco has so many career paths, there is easily over 10 different managers within a superstore. With some research I have found that there are different levels or managerial status. There are department, staff, store, regional, national managers and executives. All of these manager jobs have salaries of £40k+ with extra motivational bonuses on top such as 20% personal discounts, all expenses paid for top of the range car etc. I will look at a specific Merchandising Manager. As a Merchandising Manager you will need to lead several teams to manage all aspects of stock control, you will be required to ensure availability of products inline with forecast whilst maintaining budgets.
The manager and the team need to constantly keep up to date with suppliers from the UK, Europe and Asia. You are required to maintain a smooth running relationship with them and make new links with suppliers all the time to get better prices etc. Managers in Tesco are required to be very hands on and willing to lead the way and help your team reach the goals set. Tesco states clearly that all job roles require working together.
Supervisor – Tesco as such doesn’t have clear roles that are ‘supervisors’ I have found that they have people that are more like team leaders, if not a team leader the Managers are the supervisors. These team leaders and Managers act as supervisors and are someone to talk to if you need anything. They are also there to liase with customers if they want to speak to someone with more authority than the ‘standard’ shop floor worker. Supervisor/mangers wear different clothing so that they can be told apart visually from other workers within Tesco. This just gives them immediate increased status because they are ‘important’ enough to wear different clothing.
IT operative – IT systems are always being modified and created to make Tesco’s shopping experiences faster, more cost effective and more energy efficient. If a technology doesn’t exist, Tesco has the resources to create and innovate any idea they have. The IT department of Tesco isn’t just there to provide hardware and software, the contribution of providing a constant helping service is required. So anyone using new software/hardware is given training on how to use it etc. IT solutions are used to improve the lives of their workers and customers. The IT at Tesco is always put to good use in the following areas:
- Supply systems create effective stock control and product availability to all customers.
- All customers go through the checkouts to pay, so these pieces of technology need to be at their best. Simple and smart but at the same time sophisticated.
- Producing new ideas such as the Self Scan Checkouts which can make shopping more enjoyable for possibly a limited period of time because of the novelty.
- There are also lots of technologies that customers cannot see/don’t realise are implemented. Some technologies like heat sensing cameras that detect when extra tills are needed to be opened before people even realise.
In the IT department, there are over 5,000 users supporting Tesco advancing into the future with technological advancements.
Administrator – Administration within Tesco again has a broad range of differing job roles. The general idea is that they are involved with all types of paperwork and working with the public and being in the public eye representing Tesco as a brand.
