N a m e : Yo u s a f M u z z a ff a r A h m e d

Grade: B.Com
Roll No: B-17592
University of south Asia

Submitted To: Sir Farukh Malik

 Tesco

Tesco was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen as a

group of market stalls. The Tesco name first
appeared in 1924, after Cohen purchased a
shipment of tea from T. E. Stock well and combined
those initials with the first two letters of his
surname, and the first Tesco store opened in
1929 in Burnt Oak, Barnet. His business expanded
rapidly, and by 1939 he had over 100 Tesco
stores across the country.
History
Jack Cohen, the son of Jewish migrants from Poland,
founded Tesco in 1919 when he began to sell war-
surplus groceries from a stall at Well Street Market,
Hackney; in the East End of London. The Tesco brand
first appeared in 1924. The name came about after
Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from Thomas
Edward Stock well. He made new labels using the first
three letters of the supplier's name (TES), and the first
two letters of his surname (CO), forming the word
TESCO. The first Tesco store was opened in 1929 in Burnt
Oak, Edgware, and Middlesex. Tesco was floated on the
London Stock Exchange in 1947 as Tesco Stores
(Holdings) Limited. The first self-service store opened in.
St Albans in 1956 (which remained operational until
2010 before relocating to a larger premises on the same
street, with a period as a Tesco Metro), and the first
supermarket in Maldon in 1956. In 1961 Tesco Leicester
made an appearance in the Guinness Book of Records as
the largest store in Europe.

Expansion
During the 1950s and the 1960s Tesco grew organically, and also
through acquisitions, until it owned more than 800 stores. The
company purchased 70 Williamson's stores), The company
purchased 70 Williamson's stores (1957),200 Harrow
Stores outlets (1959), 212 Irwins stores (1960,
beating Express Dairies' Premier Supermarkets to the deal),
97 Charles Phillips stores (1964) and the Victor Value chain
(1968) (sold to Bejam in 1986).

Jack Cohen's business motto was "pile it high and sell it cheap", to
which he added an internal motto of "YCDBSOYA" (YouCant Do
Business Sitting on Your Arse) which he used to motivate his sales
force.
A branch of Tesco built inside the Hoover Building in Perivale,
London (now a listed building)

In May 1987, Tesco completed its hostile takeover of

the Hillards chain of 40 supermarkets in the North of England
for 220 million.

In 1994, the company took over the supermarket chain William

Low, successfully fighting of Sainsbury's for control of
the Dundee-based firm, which operated 57 stores. This paved
the way for Tesco to expand its presence in Scotland, which was
weaker than in England.

Tesco introduced a loyalty card, branded 'Club card', in 1995 and

later an Internet shopping service. In 1996 the typeface of the
logo was changed to the current version with stripe reflections
underneath, whilst the corporate font used for store signage was
changed from the familiar "typewriter" font that had been used
since the 1970s. The same year saw the introduction of overseas
operations. Terry Leahy assumed the role of Chief Executive on 21
February 1997, the appointment having been announced on 21
November 1995.

On 21 March 1997 Tesco announced the purchase of the retail

arm of Associated British Foods, which consisted of
the Quinnsworth,Stewarts and Crazy Prices chains in the Ireland
and Northern Ireland, plus associated businesses, for
640 million. The deal was approved by the European
Commission on 6 May 1997. This acquisition gave it both a major
presence in (and marked a return to) the Republic of Ireland and a
larger presence in Northern Ireland than Sainsbury's, which had
begun its move into Northern Ireland in 1995.

The company was the subject of a letter bomb campaign lasting

five months from August 2000 to February 2001 as a bomber
calling himself "Sally" sent letter bombs to Tesco customers and
demanded Club cards modified to withdraw money from cash
machines.

Diversification
In July 2001 Tesco became involved in internet grocery retailing
in the USA when it obtained a 35% stake in Grocery Works. In
2002 Tesco purchased 13 HIT hypermarkets in Poland. It also
made a major move into the UK convenience store market with its
purchase of T & S Stores, owner of 870 convenience stores in
the One Stop, Dillon and Day & Nite chains in the UK.

In June 2003 Tesco purchased the C Two-Network in Japan. It also

acquired a majority stake in Turkish supermarket chain Kipa. In
January 2004 Tesco acquired Adminstore, owner of 45 Cullens,
Europa, and Harts convenience stores, in and around London.

In Thailand, Tesco Lotus was a joint venture of the Charoen

Pokphand Group and Tesco, but facing criticism over the growth of
hypermarkets CP Group sold its Tesco Lotus shares in 2003. In
late 2005 Tesco acquired the 21 remaining Safeway/BP stores
afterMorrisons dissolved the Safeway/BP partnership. In mid-2006
Tesco purchased an 80% stake in Casino's Leader Price
supermarkets in Poland, which were then rebranded as small
Tesco stores.
On 9 February 2006, Tesco announced that it planned to move
into the United States by opening a chain of small format grocery
stores in the Western states (Arizona, California and Nevada) in
2007 named Fresh & Easy. It had plans for rapid growth after a
pause in the second quarter of 2008, the opening program
recommenced and over 200 stores were opened in Arizona,
California, and Nevada by December 2012.

Restructuring
Tesco confirmed in April 2013 that it was pulling out of the US
market (Fresh & Easy Stores), at a reported cost of 1.2 billion.

In September 2013, Tesco announced they would sell the

business to Ronald Burkle's Yucaipa Companies for an
undisclosed amount.

Tesco retained the Fresh & Easy brand in the UK - applying it

instead to certain convenience food products.

In September 2013, Tesco launched its first-ever tablet

computer, a seven-inch model called Hudl. The Tesco Hudl 2 has
since been released.

On 1 September 2014, Dave Lewis (previously of Unilever) took

over as CEO. In January 2015, Lewis announced plans to close
the company's head office in Cheshunt in the near future, as well
as 43 loss-making stores and the cancellation of 49 new large
supermarkets which will not go ahead as originally
intended. The store closures are expected to mean 2,000 staff is
made redundant while a further 250m of cost-cutting measures
are planned. Tesco also confirmed the sale of its Blink box on-
demand video service and its fixed-line and broadband business
to Talk Talk. Tesco sold the Blink box Music streaming service
to Guvera on 26 January 2015 and confirmed it would close its
Blink box Books service by the end of February 2015.

Former operations
Tesco Home plus
In May 2005 Tesco announced a trial non-food only
format near Manchester and Aberdeen, and the first store
opened in October 2005. The stores ofered all of Tesco's
ranges except food in warehouse-style units in retail
parks. Tesco introduced the format as only 20% of its
customers had access to a Tesco Extra, and the company
was restricted in how many of its superstores it could
convert into Extras and how quickly it could do so. Large
units for non-food retailing are much more readily
available.
The format was not Tesco's first non-food only venture in
the UK. Until the late 1990s/early 2000s there were
several non-food Tesco stores around the country
including Scarborough and Yate. Although not in a
warehouse style format, the stores were located on high
streets and shopping centres, they stocked similar items
to Home plus stores. In both cases this was because
another part of the shopping centre had a Tesco
Superstore that stocked food items only.

Market share
As of its 2006-year end Tesco was the fourth largest retailer in
the world behind Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Home Depot. Tesco
moved ahead of Home Depot during 2007, following the sale of
Home Depot's professional supply division and a decline in the
value of the US dollar against the British pound. METRO was only
just behind and might move ahead again if the euro strengthens
against the pound, but METRO's sales include many billions
of wholesale turnover, and its retail turnover is much less than
Tesco's.

Corporate social responsibility

Tesco has made a commitment to corporate social
responsibility in the form of contributions of 1.87% in 2006 of its
pre-tax profits to charities/local community organizations. This
compares favorably with Marks & Spencer's 1.51% but not well
with Sainsbury's 7.02%. Will Hutton, in his role as chief executive
of The Work Foundation recently praised Tesco for leading the
debate on corporate responsibility. However Intelligent Giving has
criticized the company for directing all "staf giving" support to
the company's Charity of the Year.

In 1992, Tesco started a "computers for schools scheme",

ofering computers in return for schools and hospitals getting
vouchers from people who shopped at Tesco. Until 2004,
92 million of equipment went to these organizations. The
scheme has been also implemented in Poland.

Starting during the 200506 football season, the company now

sponsors the Tesco Cup, a football competition for young players
throughout the UK.
Advertising
Tesco have used many television adverts over the years. In July
2007 a DVD containing adverts from 19772007 was given to all
members of staf. Early advertising stressed cheap prices and
how to keep "The cost of living in check." In 1977 an advert was
made where a till showed the prices to many items such as
"baked beans 121/2p".

A notable 1980s advert was "Checkout 82," which was made in

1982, where a till would have a receipt coming out of it with the
prices on. This advert had synthpop music as the backing and
people singing "Check it out, check it out".

Adverts in the early '90s had a man called David, portrayed

by Dudley Moore, on the hunt for free-range chickens
from France and discovering many goods from around the world
to purchase for Tesco. Namely foods included deep-pan pizza,
Italia grapes, tiramisu and Camembert and Stilton cheeses.
Furthermore, adverts in the late '90s had Prunella Scales as Dotty
Turnbull and Jane Horrocks as her long-sufering daughter Kate
Neill, the former typically arguing about Tesco prices. In 2003,
adverts showed items and shopping trolleys talking about Tesco.
Late 2000s adverts have included many celebrities and celebrity
voice-overs such as The Spice Girls and the voice of actors James
Nesbitt and Jane Horrocks.

Tesco's main advertising slogan is "Every little helps". Its

advertisements in print and on television mainly consist of
product shots (or an appropriate image, such as a car when
advertising petrol) against a white background, with a price or
appropriate text (e.g., "Tesco Value") superimposed on a red
circle. On television, voiceovers are provided by recognisable
actors and presenters, such as Barbara Windsor, James
Nesbitt, Jane Horrocks, Terry Wogan, Dawn French, Ray
Winston, Neil Morrissey, Martin Clunes, David Jason, David
Tennant, Richard Aitken and Kathy Burke amongst others.