The "what on earth are tesco thinking" thread

[Pete]

I presume by now you've seen tesco's bizarre new "britain's biggest discounter?" campaign.

essentially, they're claiming they're better than lidl/aldi as their cheap brands are cheaper.

so, each store now has a range of these "discount brands." Brands such as "Mermaid Bay" frozen foods, "Country Barn" cereals, "packers choice" teabags and, my particular favourite, "wheatfield" bread.

Fair enough perhaps, until you turn these products around, and notice the entire back of the packet is in the standard tesco template, fonts, style, colours, and then has "produced in the uk for tesco stores ltd".

So basically, what they've done is taken their own brand stuff, made up a load of fake brands with preposterous names thought up by a business studies class at school, and filled a load of places that would usually have real offers with them. What a complete load of shit.

Having said that, the best bit was looking in the "discounter" freezer end the other day. Mermaid Bay fish fingers and their ristaurante verdi italian meals were completely untouched, whilst the normal tesco own brand things were half way down. So it would appear that they've shot themselves completely in the foot. Fab.


(oh, and I was going to litter this thread with a few images, but clicking on the link to "wheatfield soft white" bread brings up a picture of "tesco soft white" bread instead. how telling)

[Sput]

Is the tesco own brand stuff cheaper? I forget. Maybe they're sticking to the old rule that if you can get them in the door you can sell them something, and by having those ugly red and yellow signs in the door they're doing that.

[Nick Harvey]

I'm already on the case!

More on this in Comment, at the end of the month, with special emphasis on washing up liquid.

[Gavin Scott]

Is this replacing their own brand stuff with basic packaging? Research shows that a lot of people wont buy basic stuff because of the stigma. Perhaps they think dummy brands will remove this.

I'm just guessing. Haven't seen this campaign yet.

[Mr Q]

Is this replacing their own brand stuff with basic packaging? Research shows that a lot of people wont buy basic stuff because of the stigma. Perhaps they think dummy brands will remove this.

I'm just guessing. Haven't seen this campaign yet.

I suspect you're right Gavin. If so, it's an interesting way to try and resolve that stigma. The question is, will consumers be dumb enough to accept that the 'dummy brand' is not generic? After all, the reason brands actually have any meaning is because of advertising and reputation. If the dummy brands aren't marketed, then they might have a problem. On the other hand, cost-conscious shoppers (who I expect are the ones Tesco is targeting) who aren't strongly swayed by individual brands might find the dummy branded offerings more attractive. But then is the stigma of own brand so strong that even if they're looking for the cheapest offering, and the generic good has the lowest price, that they wouldn't buy it?

[Gavin Scott]

Is this replacing their own brand stuff with basic packaging? Research shows that a lot of people wont buy basic stuff because of the stigma. Perhaps they think dummy brands will remove this.

I'm just guessing. Haven't seen this campaign yet.

I suspect you're right Gavin. If so, it's an interesting way to try and resolve that stigma. The question is, will consumers be dumb enough to accept that the 'dummy brand' is not generic? After all, the reason brands actually have any meaning is because of advertising and reputation. If the dummy brands aren't marketed, then they might have a problem. On the other hand, cost-conscious shoppers (who I expect are the ones Tesco is targeting) who aren't strongly swayed by individual brands might find the dummy branded offerings more attractive. But then is the stigma of own brand so strong that even if they're looking for the cheapest offering, and the generic good has the lowest price, that they wouldn't buy it?

Well Aldi and Lidl seem to flip the "advertised brand" thing on its head. They're largely full of names that no one has heard of (continental brands etc) but at very low prices. Whether the consumers feel they are "quality brands from elsewhere" or not I don't know (never having shopped there), but I suspect that's what it is.

[Nini]

Hmm, I will be addressing points already made in this but here goes, not like you'll read it all.

The reason why this'll work started (to me) during the whole "No Frills" era of supermarket shopping in the 90's when Netto and Lidl amongst other two syllable name brands were new to our isles, Tesco wasn't a behemoth of retail and Kwik Save was around and actually one of the big boys too. During that period, No Frills became second hand for no quality and very few people wanted the spartan labels in their freezers and on their shelves due to the stigma of being called a cheapo bastard. In much the same way Netto was too cheap and filled with things off the near continent you don't recognise, they too also fell down and a whole generation of kids grew to know that own name brands are not good in terms of quality and in terms of social standing.

So, all the stuff just above the value ranges are left only to the truly spendthrift and doesn't really shift, enter the dummy brand. The dummy brand concept isn't new, many other supermarkets have toyed with it only to float back to their own brand being used in some way, either in tandem or replacing the dummy brand altogether. The concept works on the principles I mentioned before, if a box, tin or packet isn't emblazoned in the store's brand people will not feel it's some cheap piece of crap, usually it will be the same cheap piece of crap it was last week but now it has a different brand and is different as far as your dumb little rationalising subconscious reckons.

It's an unknown quantity, could be anything and the whole own brand stigma is gone because it doesn't call itself own brand and doesn't look own brand either so becomes a viable purchase.

[Pete]

oh my, I forgot about No Frills, the best way to bully the poor kids with those nasty grey trousers from ladybird.

I'm wondering whether the stigma still exists though, yes for iceland and farmfoods and shit like that, but with things such as tesco finest and tesco normal, does it still exist in the same way? Especially with so many of the own brands going all "no rubbish" before the big brands started.

I was in tesco last night and tesco branded stuff was selling, the fake brands weren't. Whether this is due to stock levels inside the store of sales is uncertain but it certainly seemed that they weren't shifting the fake brands

[Stuart*]

Going back to Hyma's original point, and Tesco's claim to be "britain's biggest discounter", you have to wonder about the expense incurred in producing these pseudo-brands against the benefit of being able to justify their claim for advertising purposes.

I'm not sure there is still a stigma about buying economy "own brands". I certainly have no problem in stocking my cupboards with value-branded pasta, baked beans, fresh meat or bread. Yes, it's nice when you can afford more expensive branded products which you believe are of better quality, but that's not foremost on people's minds when some basic food prices have risen 40% in the last year.

For some reason the likes of Sainsburys and Tesco have always wanted their own-brand products to "look cheap", regardless of the quality of the product. The labelling was basic to say the least, although instantly recognisable. "Tesco Value" products have recently changed their labels from the familiar red/blue on a white background to something more akin to the other brands, albeit with their logo still displayed. With that change in mind, I wonder about the longevity of these pseudo-brands beyond the current campaign.

[marksi]

I've just been to Tesco and found a large area at the entrance to the store filled with their new el-cheapo produce.

I've been reading a book recently called "Tescopoly" and while you have to read it bearing in mind that the author has written it with an inherent hate of the company, there are many worrying points in it regarding Tesco business practices and the pressure under which their suppliers often come.

I'd expect the new round of economy products could cause even more pressure to be placed on them.

[Stuart*]

I've been reading a book recently called "Tescopoly" and while you have to read it bearing in mind that the author has written it with an inherent hate of the company, there are many worrying points in it regarding Tesco business practices and the pressure under which their suppliers often come.

I'd expect the new round of economy products could cause even more pressure to be placed on them.

I'm not sure how you expect a commercial operation to behave, Marksi. They are expected to use every legal method available to them to achieve maximum profit and buy produce at the cheapest possible cost. If that involves manipulating a tied group of producers, then so be it. I don't endorse that if it's a virtual monopoly, but that's the market economics this government have encouraged for 11 years and continued after 18 years of a previous government.

I'm not a shareholder of Tesco, and I'm not sure whether you are either; but if you were, I'm sure you wouldn't be happy about the company executives making anything other than the most cost-effective decisions for the organisation and your potential dividend.

I'm sure "Tescopoly" is a good read (can I borrow it?), but as ever, disgruntled ex-employees rarely have a good impression of their former paymasters. Perhaps our fellow Metropoller, TG, would be better placed to comment on the authenticity of the contents?