Watch out US folks

[Saitek]

the almighty Tesco has arrived. Telling you in 20 years time you will only have a Tesco to shop in.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4695890.stm

[Craig.]

They might do Ok as a second chain, behind walmart, but they will never come close to touching them in terms of size.

[Fozzer]

"....The first store will open on the West Coast, the company said....."

WOWZERS... ...!

That will save me switching off the Flight Sim to go shopping at my local Sainsbury's store..

Now while I am chuffing around my usual haunts in California, I can land at San Francisco International Airport and pop into the new Tesco super-store in 'Frisco for my usual shopping... ...!
...sorted... ...!

"....A strength of Tesco is that we don't just plant a format and hope that it works well. We think this will bring something new to the American market," Mr Leahy said...."

...like Fozzer and his trusty shopping bag......?

LOL...!

Paul... ...!

[Craig.]

...like Fozzer and his trusty shopping bag......?

that alone is worth the price of admission.

[Felix/FFDS]

I"d suggest they start in the East COast, and pick up Winn-Dixie - cheap.

[flyboy 28]

So is this a food store or a Wal Mart type?

[Saitek]

Never seen walmart - but tesco used to only do food. Now they have moved into almost all other arenas of the markets.

[bbstackerf]

Someone should probably call Tesco and tell them not to bother. From what they're saying it's going to be bigger than a 7-eleven, so it won't be convienient enough, and smaller than a regular supermarket so they can't compete for variety - we like our stores with a 100 diffrent brands of butt-wipe. The only way they might have a chance is to be cheaper - which is hard to do. The big chains didn't get to be as big as they are swallowing up smaller chains and the mom and pop grocery stores by accident. Not to mention that many here are chain-loyal. If they're going go toe to toe with one of our big market chains, such as Albertson's, Ralph's, Von's(Safeway), or Fred Meyer(Kroger-Fry's) - all west coast chains - it's going to be intresting. BUT, we thrive on competition so the more stores the merrier.

Keni

[TacitBlue]

So they think they can take on the great Wal-Mart Fortress? We'll see.

This line made me laugh.

...given the disappointing track record of other UK supermarkets attempting to crack the US market, often regarded as a graveyard for British grocers.

[Craig.]

To be fair if any chain has the money to compete, it is Tesco. The key problem is catching on with the shoppers. Walmart is pretty well set and reasonable prices so Tesco will need to be prepaired to lose alot of money to compete.

[Souichiro]

Well I do give tesco's a chance

They tend to go to medium sized villages and out-compete the local butcher/baker and veggie-man. for easyness sake people will go to the local supermarket which is tesco's

[Craig.]

Yeah but Sou, in general there is a Walmart just about everywhere you can think of, and where there isn't one right on the doorstep its because the towns too small, and there will be a supercenter within 20 miles. So where ever they look to setup they will be competing.

[Hagar]

I believe that Adsa (one of Tesco's biggest competitors in the UK) is owned by Walmart so maybe Tesco is taking them on in their own backyard.

There's a lot of local opposition to the proposed new Asda supermarket near me. It's already been thrown out by the local council but they've appealed against it. We already have a Tesco & Sainsbury's so there is no need for any more. I have no doubt it will go ahead as planned. http://www.worthing.gov.uk/News/NewsArchive2005/April/Title,19122,en.html

[Souichiro]

Ok In that case I'm curious how tesco will position itself.

While I do not know much of the U.S. Supermarket business... Here in Holland there were two trends in recent years.

1: The Price war, Supermarkets lowered prices drastically to compete with each other. The one with the longest breath wins this one. This one is coming to an end right about now..

2: The Introduction of Ultra cheap and mostly German superstores. (speaks for itself really)

The situation Holland - U.S. is difficult to compare since we only have a whopping 16 million inhabitants... and still we are a higly dense populated country...

I don't know of the cash reserves of Walmart and Tesco's and such. But the past has shown that the U.S. isn't an impenetrable market Company's like Toyota and other Asian brands have shown that.

I wonder when the large supermarket chains are going to China and the rest of Asia...


P.S. I like these kinda discussions

[Hagar]

I wonder when the large supermarket chains are going to China and the rest of Asia...

I knew Tesco's is a highly successful company but this surprised me. They already have 31 stores in China with 15 more planned for this year. http://www.tescocorporate.com/page.aspx?pointerid=A8E0E60508F94A8DBA909E2ABB5F2CC7