Metropol

Dammit. Grouse was such an obvious pun which I really shouldn't have missed...

Popped into an Express store on the way home tonight that I imagine does a lot of trade during the week with workers on their lunch break. The store has a bank of five or so of the self-service checkouts that don't have a scale and just a shelf beneath them to save space/time, along with three more traditional, scaled models (except with the bagging area being on a ledge to the right of the screen rather than a big bay).

Every single one of them was running the old UI, and on the start screen each said 'scan the barcode above the screen to begin', as if they were scan-as-you-shop units. The ones with the scales had the remains of some sort of label above the screen, but there was no trace of one on the newer tills - have Tesco done a dodgy redeployment of some old kit here, or is this some sort of weird software glitch?

The Guardian reporting today that the first Jack's store will open next week in Chatteris.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... lidl-jacks

So 'Jack's' opens today

Looks like Tesco are being more transparent about ownership than they are with One-Stop

https://www.ourtesco.com/2018/09/19/int ... nd-stores/

Introducing Jack’s – our new brand and stores
19 September 2018



In 1919, Tesco’s founder Jack Cohen, fresh from serving in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, took his £30 demob money and bought armed forces surplus stock to sell on his stall in Well Street, Hackney. From that day, he championed value for customers and changed the face of British shopping.

Jack built a business famed for making food available to everyone. He is an inspiration for all of us. That focus on customers and commitment to deliver great value has driven Tesco throughout its 100-year history and it still drives us today.

So, it’s fitting that tomorrow we’ll mark the start of our centenary celebrations by launching a new brand, and stores bearing his name: Jack’s. Great tasting food at the lowest possible prices with 8 out of 10 products grown, reared or made in Britain.

There has been a lot of speculation in the media, but I’m delighted to share the very first look at Jack’s with you today.

Our story is remarkable. It’s a privilege to be a small part of the first 100 years of Tesco. We have a great Centenary year planned for customers and colleagues, but our goal is simple: give Tesco customers the best shopping experience of our first 100 years to ensure an ideal start to the next 100 years… while having some fun along the way.

Take care,

Dave

----
What is Jack’s?

Jack’s is a new brand, and stores that celebrate the values and ethos of our founder, Jack Cohen. The launch of Jack’s marks the beginning of Tesco’s centenary, “Celebrating 100 years of great value”.
Part of the Tesco family, Jack’s offers great tasting food, 80% of which is grown, reared or made in Britain at the lowest possible prices to bring customers outstanding value.
Jack’s offers a single brand across own-brand ranges and one value proposition across the entire store, providing a consistent mark of quality and value that customers can trust.
In addition to the Jack’s brand, stores will stock some familiar grocery brands and a range of general merchandise on a “When it’s Gone, It’s Gone” basis.

The new stores will operate based on a no-fuss model. What does that mean? What will be different compared to Tesco?

Jack’s stores have been designed to keep operating costs down and prices low, for example:
We have a simplified range of 2,700 products.
Our store layout reduces the time it takes to get product from stock room to shelf.
Deliveries direct to our back door mean delivery drivers can drop off deliveries without someone needing to be onsite to take delivery
We’ve developed proprietary technology and processes that mean Jack’s stores cost less to run. We’re using them for the first time in Jack’s but may use them in other parts of the business in the future.

Will Jack’s offer grocery home shopping?

Jack’s products are only available in store.

How many products will Jack’s stock?

Jack’s will stock around 2,700 products. Around 1,800 will be Jack’s branded, along with some familiar household brands.

Why can’t Tesco commit to ‘8 out of 10 food and drink products will be grown, reared or made in Britain’ in the same way as Jack’s?

The volumes required for Tesco are too high for this to be possible.
At Tesco, we’re committed to working in partnership with British farming, food and fisheries across every part of our business, not just Jack’s.
We work in partnership with thousands of British suppliers to offer customers great quality products. All our fresh chicken, eggs & milk are sourced from the UK, and all our Tesco fresh beef is sourced from the UK & ROI.
We support many of our suppliers through our sustainable farming groups. For example, through our Sustainable Dairy Group we have agreed long term contracts with our dairy farmers and pay guaranteed prices based on the cost of production.
For every £1 spent at Tesco, we return 73p back to UK farmers and suppliers. We support almost 700,000 jobs through our own operations and wider supply chain.

Will other Tesco stores be converted to Jack’s stores?

Over the next six months, we will launch 10-15 Jack’s stores in the UK. The stores to follow Chatteris and Immingham are a mix of entirely new sites, sites adjacent to existing Tesco stores, and a small number of converted Tesco stores.

Can I use my Tesco colleague discount in Jack’s?

Jack’s colleagues receive a different package.

Surprised that they are going to open some Jack's next to existing Tesco stores, not too sure how this will affect canibalisation of the stores they are next, however I assume this is due to excess space in the larger stores.

Also surprised they are going down the 'Jacks' home brand rather than in-house brand route used by Aldi and Tesco, and recently used in Tesco.

Some branding and POS from Jacks

Well surely having it all branded as Jack's reduces the uncomfortable price comparisons, and was therefore the obvious thing to do.

sqwidge1978 wrote: Wed 19 Sep, 2018 10.38 Surprised that they are going to open some Jack's next to existing Tesco stores, not too sure how this will affect canibalisation of the stores they are next, however I assume this is due to excess space in the larger stores.

Better to cannibalise your own market share than wait for competitors to cannibalise it for you.

An interesting selection of launch pics and POS can be seen on Twitter. (sorry to any non-tweeters who get annoyed by links like this, but I didn't want to fill the thread with other people's tweets).

Quite a few product ones on this account: https://twitter.com/hwallop/media

Some more POS ones here: https://twitter.com/TomBoadle/status/10 ... 1295225856

They seem to be targetting a customer segment of people yearning for discount food that have such a strong dislike of Germans, they refuse to go to Lidl or Aldi.

I wonder if Hackney's Well Street store - just round the corner from the original market stall - would be a likely candidate for conversion. It's a fairly compact unit, pretty close to another Superstore, and also a Lidl. (Also not far from me and I'd quite like to visit one).

If Tesco seriously think they're going to claw back any of Aldi and Lidl's market share with this extremely basic half-arsed effort, they've got another thing coming.

Looking at all the images posted today, Jack's seems to be based on the budget tin can retailer Aldi/Lidl/Netto of 15-20 years ago, or even Kwik Save.

But Lidl in particular is now way more sophisticated. They have an M&S-rivalling Deluxe range, for example, and foreign speciality food ranges which change by the week (Greek, Spanish, American, etc.) offering genuinely exciting products sourced globally from specialist manufacturers, all on sale at affordable prices thanks to their Europe-wide buying power.

Stores like B&M, Home Bargains and Poundstretcher have now got a grip on the cheapo tin can ambient food sector that Aldi and Lidl have progressed from.