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[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Damn those market forces.  Communism would fix all this, I'm sure.

....and what is so very wrong with waiting in a queue  for three hours for a loaf of stale bread?....

The drive back to your USSR era tower block in your smoky two stroke Trabant would be sheer bliss. 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Anyone remember Liptons supermarket chain? I worked in the Scarborough branch(now a beefburger joint) as a teenager.

I did a weeks relief butchery manager at one in Scarborough years ago
[/quote]

Yes....and George Mason......

[Lizzie_Zoom]

They are all the same, all they want is your money, the products all come from the same factories, suppliers, just a different packet. They all squeeze the life out of suppliers,producers to get the prices as low as possible.
Just happens that Tesco has had a dominant model for years,and has sat on its laurels for to long,and has been taking a kicking from all comers and is now playing catchup.

Not sure. I'm not defending Tesco, but often in Wales there will be a special offer of Welsh Lamb that is way WAY below anything that you will see in any other Tesco or even local butcher. I really do think that they sometimes source locally, but does the supplier get really screwed ? Delicious welsh lamb at £8.50 per kilo, I can't believe the supplier is making much

I worked for a haulage company a few years ago that had a good contract with Sainsbury's.  I was picking up a load of pork chops at an abbotoir one day and one of the fellas told me that Sainsburys wanted to run a 2 for 1 promotion on pork chops and were expecting the meat company to supply the extra chop free of charge!! 

The directors of the meat company were refusing but Sainsburys were playing hardball and threatening to take their business elsewhere.  Apparently the meat company were between a rock and a hard place as they depended on the Sainsburys contract, but would make a loss if they supplied the extra meat for free..... 

All two for one promotions of BOGOF's if you prefer are at the expense of the supplier.

It's not the supermarkets who are taking the hit. They are not that benevolent.

Yes Opti, that is usual practice. However it is often the supplier who encourages that as they want maximum distribution for their product whilst lowering the unit cost of production by greater quantities coming off the lines. Certainly the manufacturers I negotiated with often offered me and other buyers a lower unit price if we purchased say 100,000 units instead of 80,000 with promotions like BOGOF's attached.  If at the end of the year we got close to meeting the next price discount level by buying another 15,000 units that could be worth to us the retailer another £50,000 of gross profit in just terms of a further discount on the cost price on all our buying from that manufacture for the year.  It is all a big game; you as a retailer want to sell product that suits your business model, but at the right price to encourage consumers to buy; the manufacturer wants to increase it's levels of production and increase product distribution to lower the manufacturing costs and improve the market share of their line. Higher profits, the name of the game, is the result!

Then, at the end of the day if the price is right and the product has maximum availability, great advertising, the consumer should buy and want more; everyone is happy!

If everyone gets it wrong, with the wrong product, at the wrong price, in the wrong quantities, with poor advertising, you have a turkey on your hands and the retailer with the manufacturer takes a hit!

Product positioning in the market is so important and the manufacturer and retailer all play their part in the profits game. In 2014 the quality, premium products, are being squeezed by the less recognisable and economy / cheaper ones with the supermarkets identified for selling the latter gaining ground and knocking the likes of Tesco for six. The market is a changing and be ready for some fall out as has been seen in the recent past. Morrison's losing market share due to not entering the on-line business until almost too late is yet another example of how a retailer, no matter how big they may be, can lose focus on the market, fail to respond due to an out-dated business model, can come a cropper!

[cleggy]

You will find that the offers on products rotate round the supermarkets. Take Peroni 660ml bottles, an area I'm not unfamiliar with , varies between £2.50 and £2.80 a bottle. That said, it is always available at two for £4.00 in cycles of 2 or 3 weeks at Sainsburys, then  Co-op, then Tesco then back. There must be some agreement between the supplier and the supermarkets, which is a bit naughty, why not just £2 a bottle or less
The staff at our Tesco are great, friendly, helpful and have a bit of banter, bearing in mind I only go when the Peroni is on offer and will pick up the odd staple as required. The petrol discounts are reasonable with a club card up to 20p per litre off depending on what you spend in a month. So when the Peroni is on the offer I save the maximum on the monthly fill up.
For meat, fish, fruit and vegetables we use farmers markets or the local shops.

[tooleater]

Every little helps. Is that why they keep reducing the size and weight of products and charging more. That's the thing about Greed downward spiral where does it stop

[cleggy]

Every little helps. Is that why they keep reducing the size and weight of products and charging more. That's the thing about Greed downward spiral where does it stop

Standard sizing and weight should be equal so then the customer can easily assess the value. Mind you I remember when Mars Bars where a tanner and the size of a house brick from the local sweet shop. Supermarkets were still on the other side of the Atlantic.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

You will find that the offers on products rotate round the supermarkets. Take Peroni 660ml bottles, an area I'm not unfamiliar with , varies between £2.50 and £2.80 a bottle. That said, it is always available at two for £4.00 in cycles of 2 or 3 weeks at Sainsburys, then  Co-op, then Tesco then back. There must be some agreement between the supplier and the supermarkets, which is a bit naughty, why not just £2 a bottle or less
The staff at our Tesco are great, friendly, helpful and have a bit of banter, bearing in mind I only go when the Peroni is on offer and will pick up the odd staple as required. The petrol discounts are reasonable with a club card up to 20p per litre off depending on what you spend in a month. So when the Peroni is on the offer I save the maximum on the monthly fill up.
For meat, fish, fruit and vegetables we use farmers markets or the local shops.

We know.

[omega3000]

Every little helps. Is that why they keep reducing the size and weight of products and charging more. That's the thing about Greed downward spiral where does it stop

Standard sizing and weight should be equal so then the customer can easily assess the value. Mind you I remember when Mars Bars where a tanner and the size of a house brick from the local sweet shop. Supermarkets were still on the other side of the Atlantic.

+1  And use to take a good half hour to chew through a CurlyWurly 

[TheBoy]

I have found my local Tesco (not much choice around here - there is quite a small Waitrose, but its an arse to get to, and only really does groceries) very helpful, always prepared to ring round local stores to check stock on non groceries.  Can't really fault them, even though its a small shop.  That said, I have absolutely no loyalty.


As with any other successful British company, its trendy for Brits to hate Tesco, in the same way they hate the pharmaceutical firms, BT, Rover, banks and so on...

In many ways that is true TB, but my thoughts are based on a mix of personal, professional, and others experience.  The trouble with many British companies, if no others, is they become complacent, self centred on their own success, and then dictatorial, ignoring what the customer actually wants.

Marks & Spencers have done that, and are still fighting to regain their position in the market with us women. Sainsbury's, once the leading supermarket did it, and really went off the boil allowing Tesco's in. The British motor companies of Austin, Morris, Wolsley, Rover, etc., also did that, producing cars that the world, let alone British motorists did not want thus allowing the Japanese in, who also destroyed a complacent British motor cycle industry.

As I touched on before, market forces dictate who is successful, who is not, and who will go out of business. Lose sight of that and only do what you want to as a retailer or manufacturer, and away you go.  Somerfield, Home & Colonial, Lipton's, Kwik Save, Cyril Lord Carpets, Rolls Electricals, Ekco  Radio's, etc, etc, have all gone due to losing site of the market and customer needs, and by God there will be more!

Only the fittest will survive!

I keep trying to tell my mgmt. that...  ...even though its internal customers mostly. Not one ounce of business sense between them.

[TheBoy]

And that's why, m'lord, I keep ending up on special report.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

I have found my local Tesco (not much choice around here - there is quite a small Waitrose, but its an arse to get to, and only really does groceries) very helpful, always prepared to ring round local stores to check stock on non groceries.  Can't really fault them, even though its a small shop.  That said, I have absolutely no loyalty.


As with any other successful British company, its trendy for Brits to hate Tesco, in the same way they hate the pharmaceutical firms, BT, Rover, banks and so on...

In many ways that is true TB, but my thoughts are based on a mix of personal, professional, and others experience.  The trouble with many British companies, if no others, is they become complacent, self centred on their own success, and then dictatorial, ignoring what the customer actually wants.

Marks & Spencers have done that, and are still fighting to regain their position in the market with us women. Sainsbury's, once the leading supermarket did it, and really went off the boil allowing Tesco's in. The British motor companies of Austin, Morris, Wolsley, Rover, etc., also did that, producing cars that the world, let alone British motorists did not want thus allowing the Japanese in, who also destroyed a complacent British motor cycle industry.

As I touched on before, market forces dictate who is successful, who is not, and who will go out of business. Lose sight of that and only do what you want to as a retailer or manufacturer, and away you go.  Somerfield, Home & Colonial, Lipton's, Kwik Save, Cyril Lord Carpets, Rolls Electricals, Ekco  Radio's, etc, etc, have all gone due to losing site of the market and customer needs, and by God there will be more!

Only the fittest will survive!

I keep trying to tell my mgmt. that...  ...even though its internal customers mostly. Not one ounce of business sense between them.

Yep TB, and that was the main cause of all those British companies downfalls, especially within the motor industry. Bad models, bad staff relations, bad quality, and all the wrong decisions at the wrong time  -  when it was all too late!

These cases still feature in the annuls of bad management and should be guides to current and future directors.