Strategy in action
Having given you an overview of the implementation of our strategy over the past year, this section sets out some detailed case studies showing our strategy in action.
Below you can read about the £1 billion commitment we're making to improve the shopping trip in the UK, our exciting innovations online, what we mean by Group skill and scale, our businesses in newer markets, the progress of Tesco Bank over the last three years and our team's extraordinary response to the flooding in Thailand.
UK: Giving our customers the best shopping trip
We always want to provide our customers with the best shopping experience and set the standard in the UK. Focusing on food first, we are making a £1 billion commitment this year to improve the shopping trip, driving a strong pace of improvement in the things that matter for customers – service, range, quality, price, availability and the store environment.
More staff, better service
One of the largest elements of our investment is in increased staffing levels, training and equipment for key departments in existing stores – such as produce and meat. We saw marked improvements in customers' perceptions and sales performance of 200 pilot stores. This success has given us the confidence to move quickly to apply these changes to all of our large stores – an investment of over £200 million.
Creating more good jobs and careers
Over the next two years, we will create 20,000 new jobs to deliver new levels of excellence in customer service. Customers will benefit from more staff on the shop floor at busy times, greater staff expertise and enhanced service across the store.
The investment goes to the heart of our promise to create good jobs and careers, with opportunities focused on young people who are currently unemployed. British Prime Minister David Cameron described the investment as "a massive confidence boost for the UK economy".
The Fruit and Veg team
Fresh food is an area where customers really appreciate having dedicated, specially trained and knowledgeable staff. With the additional investment in staffing, training and equipment, the Fruit and Veg team can focus on fresh produce, improving product availability and presentation for customers.
We are also increasing the number of staff across the whole of fresh food – meat, produce and chilled convenience foods.
Quality and innovation
We are reviewing and refreshing our entire range of over 8,000 Tesco brand products starting with the relaunch of Tesco Value as Everyday Value, with quality improvements to hundreds of products. Helping customers manage on tight budgets, Value was already growing at twice the rate of the market as a whole: these changes will further strengthen its position. We will also be comprehensively updating our other Tesco ranges this year.
We have already stepped up the pace of innovation with our new Venture Brand exclusive products – such as Chokablok ice cream, Parioli authentic Italian ranges and the Latham's range of premium pet food.
With such a strong variety of ranges to appeal to the needs of different customers, we will also be applying more personalisation and localisation in stores to help them tailor their ranges much more for their local area.
The Big Price Drop
In September 2011, we launched The Big Price Drop, investing more than £500 million to reduce the prices of over 3,000 everyday products. Big Price Drops target the products that customers buy week in, week out. The progress is encouraging and we're now more competitive. It's an important step in the journey but there's more to do to get the blend right on price, promotions, couponing and loyalty.
Look and feel
We are also improving the look and feel of many of our fresh departments using more engaging signage, stronger graphics, warmer colours and better lighting.
