The Tesco & other non-Morrisons supermarket thread

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WillPS
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Jonny wrote: Wed 19 May, 2021 09.44 Tesco Metro bites the dust:

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... ss-format/

Interested to see which become Superstores vs Express. Based on store size alone or other factors?
Interesting. The Metro in Nottingham had its Metro signage removed a few years ago before having it put back up again a few months later.

In related news the last Sainsbury's Central, in Birmingham, closes later this year.
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RDJ
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The Sainsbury’s Central in Birmingham is a terrible Sainsbury’s which still retains most of the asthetics of Sainsbury’s twenty years ago inside and very dimly lit and very quiet. I’m not surprised it’s going.

Tesco Metro on the other hand has probably suffered quite a bit over the past year with less people visiting the city centre locations they’re mostly based in.

Will be interesting to see which Metros fit the bill of being converted to Expresses and which to Superstores.
Back to Birmingham and the Metro there is quite big but is across two floors. There’s no trolley access and is basket only - which says to me it’ll be an Express but it’ll be a pretty huge one.
thegeek
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Surely basket v trolley is the key differential.

I recently went past the Bethnal Green store and noticed it had some newish signage (including 'est 1969' - can anyone beat that?), but having a look on Street View it does look maybe a bit interim, like they were going to remove the Metro all along.
robschneider
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Our Tesco is a converted Somerfield. They never have enough checkouts open and the whole aesthetic is very cheap and nasty, with an open "warehouse" roof and all lit by flourescent tubes, until 8pm when they turn half of them off and you're forced to self scan. These of course never work properly and, in any case, I don't work there. And, of course, the deli, bakery, meat counter etc. aren't manned anymore.

First World problems? Yeah they are for me, granted, but from a business perspective it feels these days like your standard Tesco has little to virtually no point of difference against the German discounters, save perhaps for the tobacco kiosk and a packing area for those checkouts they do open.

I mean, who are Tesco now? Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda all have what I'd say are fairly well-defined target markets, and that comes through in their branding and marketing.

If we said from downmarket to upmarket you had

Asda :: Morrisons :: Sainsbury's :: Waitrose

...where does Tesco fit in on that spectrum?

With Aldi and Lidl I think you have a more wider section of people - in the same way anyone and everyone will happily fly Ryanair or EasyJet because they'll accept the shortcomings for the bargains.

Maybe our Tesco is just a bit pants but I can't help but feel trying to play Aldi and Lidl at their own game isn't going to end well. The Germans' buying power eclipses that of even Tesco.
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WillPS
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Unusual for the lighting to go in to 'overnight' mode so early.

I don't share your aversion to self-scan, but is scan as you shop available?

I'm not sure why putting supermarkets in order of perceived affluence is a thing people do, but if you were to do so it's pretty obvious Tesco is in the same mid-market ballpark as Morrisons in that regard, same as always. Both chains' success has always been in not declaring a stake in any particular segment of the market - unlike the others who occasionally awkwardly try to pivot upmarket (in the case of Asda) or downmarket (in the case of JS/M&S).

I'm also a little perplexed about your assumption regarding economies of scale - aside from special buys, how many products in a branch of Aldi UK or Lidl GB do you think comes from the same supply chain as their continental European sisters? There's a fair bit of crossover in the ambient lines but when you look at fresh a vast amount of that is specific to the UK/Ireland market. Even between those two markets there are differences, when I went to Dublin with work I was quite surprised by the amount of own brand stuff which was not the same as the product available in England; for example Tesco Ireland have their own range of own brand condiments, so the Tesco ketchup you could buy over there was not the same as the Tesco ketchup you get in England, even though they're both copies of the same Heinz product.

Even things you might expect to be the same (like a net of lemons) actually differs in each market as it's sourced via the same wholesalers who provide the locally grown stuff.
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robschneider
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An interesting insight.

The Tesco is an ex-24h, but got pulled back to midnight in the cutbacks a few years ago. They did bring that forward even further to 10pm during Lockdown 1, but it's been back to midnight since last Summer.

I would have thought the majority of non-persihable stuff would be purchased en bloc by the entire group (I know there's two Aldis, a legacy of the split in Germany in the early 60's) - I'm genuinely suprised if that's not the case. I mean, one of the things they do make a big thing about is their British meat but I'd have expected non-food to be done across the international estate.

On the affluence thing, I suppose it's a legacy of the ABC1/C2DE terminology. I suppose it's like how supermarkets have different versions own-brands. Basic, Normal & Premium. I see Morrisons as the mature person's ASDA. It's always skewed "older" as a brand to my mind. I will say though that might be my brain associating a) Morrisions as an historically northern chain and b) my grandparents being from the north, which was as a kid the main reason I'd ever be driven up the M1.
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Pete
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robschneider wrote: Wed 19 May, 2021 21.22 save perhaps for the tobacco kiosk and a packing area for those checkouts they do open.
oh do Aldi/Lidl not sell fags anymore? They used to have that wee tambour thing that would open next to the belt when they opened the checkout. Did they just stop entirely with the hiding them behind things law?
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gottago
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M&S have refreshed their Stratford foodhall and it looks very nice indeed. There's a nicely themed Percy Pig aisle, a much nicer food to go area with a fancy rotisserie bit but the cafe has now gone. There's even a wine tasting machine and a coffee grinder that will give you free samples when you scan your Sparks card.
Martin Phillp
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Amazon Fresh have opened their fourth store in London and the first to be outside West London at Canary Wharf.
TVF's London Lite.
thegeek
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gottago wrote: Thu 20 May, 2021 18.20 M&S have refreshed their Stratford foodhall
I made the mistake of popping in when they were mid-refurb on the first Sunday the rest of the centre was open in anger, and it was the most stressful shopping experience I'd had in a while, because it was full of people getting in the way.

They have a packaging-free refill station where you can get dry goods like pasta, rice and cereal in your own containers (paper bags are available too). It had three drums full of mini chocolate pretzels at the end next to the scales, which is presumably where they make all their profit. I mean, it worked on me.
Jonwo
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thegeek wrote: Fri 21 May, 2021 02.23
gottago wrote: Thu 20 May, 2021 18.20 M&S have refreshed their Stratford foodhall
I made the mistake of popping in when they were mid-refurb on the first Sunday the rest of the centre was open in anger, and it was the most stressful shopping experience I'd had in a while, because it was full of people getting in the way.

They have a packaging-free refill station where you can get dry goods like pasta, rice and cereal in your own containers (paper bags are available too). It had three drums full of mini chocolate pretzels at the end next to the scales, which is presumably where they make all their profit. I mean, it worked on me.
Is the refill station similar to the concept Waitrose Unpacked which is in a few places as well as Asda although can't remember which store is was in regards to Asda.
Martin Phillp wrote: Fri 21 May, 2021 00.20 Amazon Fresh have opened their fourth store in London and the first to be outside West London at Canary Wharf.
They're planning to open a store in Islington but it's being held up by the council.

I wish they'd hurry up and open a store in South or South West London so I can go visit one.
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