There was nowhere to hide for Tesco CEO Philip Clarke this week, after the worst Christmas results in 20 years. Bottom of the class, Tesco’s 2.3% year-on-year decline in like-for-likes shocked the City, as even house brokers downgraded their profit estimates.
Clarke was forthright in his assessment of Tesco’s “long-standing issues”, and he announced it would pour hundreds of millions into a 12-month programme to get its UK operation back on track.
And the ramifications will be felt far beyond retail, with the construction industry sure to suffer as Tesco slams the brakes on its relentless UK store rollout, something Clarke ruled out strongly as recently as October. “We’ll see more stores,” said Clarke, but there will be few to no more Extras. The focus will switch to online.
Internet sales grew by 14% over Christmas and Tesco’s plans this year include further expansion of its click and collect service, opening more dark stores and the launch of an online marketplace to rival eBay.
Tesco’s version of a crisis is one that any other retailer would die for, but Clarke’s admissions were nevertheless unheard of, with the success of the group in areas such as Asia and the US completely overshadowed, as Tesco’s UK share in the last year slipped from 30.5% to 30.1% despite its huge investment in extra space [Kantar 12 w/e 25 December 2011]. And the 2010 figure, in itself, represents a decline on five years ago (see table).
Read the full article at The Grocer
Cook Tube 
i don’t think we should be doing anything, except waiting for the inevitable – a glorious return to locally produced food, sold by local shops at prices that reflect the true labour costs of food production…!