Why has Tesco stoped stocking all the own brand cheaper ranges of everything?

[StormyLovesOdd]

We're on a budget and used to buy lots of Tesco cheaper/own brand ranges of tinned tomatoes, biscuits, etc.

My local Tesco is fully stocked again but they don't seem to have any of these ranges anymore, they only seem to be stocking the expensive ranges. Why is this and is it the same everywhere else?

Money. They've also stopped all offers. They'll tell you it's to stop people over buying, like their 'doing the right thing', but its really just to keep increasing profits while giving the illusion their acting for the greater good.

Everyones normal food shop has increased in price- on average about £25 per week. That's not people over buying, that because premium brands are being made more readily available (bigger profit margin....)

Thousands wont be able to keep affording to shop like this.

I'm hoping Aldi/lidl and the smaller retailers start delivering.

For now though, if the Chiefs could stop rubbing their hands together for a second and sort out their delivery/click and collect availability by using some of the billions they've made in the past 3 weeks to purchase more vehicles and hire more staff so people can order safely themselves I'd feel a bit less about the whole mess.

3 weeks to purchase more vehicles and hire more staff so people can order safely themselves

You think supermarket delivery vans grow on trees? That there is a stock of them somewhere sitting waiting to be bought? Any increase in purchasing would need to be matched by an increase in supply. With every industry facing staff shortages, you can’t just magic up new vans.

Every supermarket in our area has posted adverts for store vacancies.

In terms of profits, supermarkets make most profit on their own brand products as they control every part of the chain. This is why companies like Sainsbury’s have always carried more of their own brand stuff. If supermarkets were making the most of this, they would be stocking more of their own stuff in the hope of not only making more money now, but of attracting new customers to their brand when alternatives aren’t available.

I have no idea why they aren’t doing this at the moment but would suspect it is a supply issue.

I can't afford to keep shopping like this. My food will be carefully rationed until we can get the cheaper ranges again.

Ours seems to have increased the Jack's own brand offering. The rest is because people have bulk bought the cheaper stuff first and it takes time to replace supply.
They are being closely monitored on pricing.

@MintyMabel There are plenty of vans available that are currently not being used by other food service industries that would be more than suitable.....along with drivers to hire- so in that respect, yes, readily available with the right means, take into account the government backing they have, plus volunteers.....oh but your right on the 'these things do take time.....' attitude that is really starting to get on my last nerve, always 5 steps behind in planning, always a delay.....

Supermarkets have no need of 'attracting customers' right now also, there is absolutely no competition, they are all making a fortune- so no, they do not make more money off 'own brand' produce...there is no supply issue to the supermarkets also-

@Taddda

You can’t just deliver groceries in any type of vehicle. Supermarket delivery systems are set up to use the appropriate vehicle and not having them will slow things down not speed it up, not to mention there are safety reasons for having the vehicles they do. Things do take time and I doubt anyone is sitting on their arse not looking at the issues to be resolved.

They may well have had a boom in sales over the last couple of weeks, but the current system of having people queuing outside, then 20 people shuffling one way round the store, instead of having them all inside, idly browsing shelves and buying more than they had on their list will be impacting profits. If they were able to do more deliveries where people can sit comfortably and are likely to maximise their 80 items if they can, they would do so. Their pricing strategy on deliveries shows it is an economic way for them to service customers and it would be really profitable for them to be able to have more - not to mention the optics if one of them was able to have more spaces available than all the others. So no, I don’t think they are just refusing to source more vans.

You appear not to grasp basic marketing strategy. They would benefit by encouraging customers to switch from branded goods to their own brand. The best way to do that is by only having those available when customers have little choice, i.e during a food crisis When those customers continue to shop with them after this is all over they are more likely to choose those brands if they’ve found quality and price are ok. They make more profit in the long run because their own brand products return more profit per unit.

It’s something Aldi have based their business model round for years. Stock just enough branded stuff to encourage shoppers to come, but produce similar own brand labels for the things people are likely to have less brand affiliation with.

The old packaging of Tesco Own Brand Value in the blue and white stripes has been phased out. Instead fruit and veg is Redmere, dairy is Edenvale, I think, cupboard stuff is Stockton or Ms Molly and there's Hearty Food as well.

I think it's to skew perception, that all Tesco stuff is a level above value. There are also less in the ranges, which helps the profits.

They are also shrinking their ranges to keep up with Aldi. During this crisis I think all companies are reducing the variety that is being produced. I think in store bakeries are doing more of a restricted list of items rather than a wide variety, biscuit makers are concentrating on main lines etc. But the trend was always to reduce the number of lines.

They haven't. The stockpilers have taken them all......our food bank has been swamped because people on strict budgets just can't afford the basics because the cheaper brands are all gone. Not just in Tesco but in supermarkets across the boards.

@MintyMabel You appear not to grasp basic marketing strategy. They would benefit by encouraging customers to switch from branded goods to their own brand. The best way to do that is by only having those available when customers have little choice, i.eduring a food crisisWhen those customers continue to shop with themafter this is all overthey are more likely to choose those brands if they’ve found quality and price are ok. They make more profitin the long runbecause their own brand products return more profit per unit.

You really think people, at this time, are sitting at home comparing the quality of a tin of beans making future plans of where to shop when this is all over based on whether 'own brand tastes better than their usual'?

Are you Gregg Wallace?

You can’t just deliver groceries in any type of vehicle.

Which is why I stated about the 'suitable' food delivery vehicles that are currently not in use right now being an option, do you think restaurants/cafes/pubs get their catering supplies from Asda?

I think what you are failing to grasp is that marketing strategies and enticing customers during a food crisis are not needed when demand is through the roof and people are accepting that paying a premium for the basics is just what they have to do right now, because people think 'they must have sold out of all their cheap products....it was those panic buyers and stockpilers'....nothing to do with the billions made in the past 3 weeks.

The reason they made all of that money was out of our fear of having no food if we were locked down. They know this. The reason people are still (over) shopping is because they have kept that fear going by not having the planning in place to supply deliveries when we were locked down.

Now anyone is taking ANY delivery or click and collect spot with ANY supermarket for ANY price.

That is quite an ideal and highly profitable 'Marketing Strategy'.

But what would I know...

To those of you making excuses for them - it's profiteering.

@Taddda there really is a problem with basic concepts generally huh? Reading and comprehension seems an issue too. I've explained it clearly, twice. I'm not going to do it again.

But absolutely hilarious that you think restaurants deliveries are anything like supermarket deliveries. You think they call "restaurant food R US" and order an assortment of items which turn up on one small van 😂.

They will have a number of deliveries from different suppliers all delivered in different types of vehicle depending on what type of food, is it fresh, tinned, chilled, frozen etc. If they don't use different vehicles, climate and humidity controlled the food would spoil. They are also generally much larger vehicles. Not at all suitable for local deliveries. Supermarket deliveries are a mix of these so have a standard compartment and a frozen one. Or, do you want tesco to pick your frozen shopping and drive it around for four or five hours before it reaches you?

I am confident you'll fail to grasp this concept too.

@Ghostlyglow

It really isn't.

@MintyMabel - I'm sorry, I'm struggling to read your last post? I'm sure it was incredibly in depth and interesting, full of facts and hilarious anecdotes, but all that's just far to high brow for me to comprehend anyway.

I have a problem with small minded posters (you) who twist responses by not wanting to admit where their wrong and completely believe what they type is fact-

Maybe your right, the supermarkets must have a perfectly reasonable explanation in why they seem to be profiteering right now, they'd never be in this game soley to make money, there in it 'for the people'.

Have a great day!

Supermarkets have been struggling more the past few years ... and now they are absolutely raking it in. Many Christmases have come at once ...

I have a problem with small minded posters (you) who twist responses by not wanting to admit where their wrong and completely believe what they type is fact

I have a problem with people who fail to understand how the world actually works, and either wilfully or ignorantly refuse to understand what is written. I'm not wrong. You just don't seem to be able to grasp that what they do now can influence how people will shop later. You actually believe people won't be noticing and assessing substitute items they are eating at the moment? If you genuinely believe that you clearly have no idea how people act and behave. But your responses have shown you are incapable of understanding that just because you think something, that doesn't make it fact.

Much easier just to lash out using big words like "profiteering" because you read it on the internet and it sounds good.

Nothing they are doing at the moment comes close to the definition of profiteering.

hilarious anecdotes

Describing how supply chains and marketing strategy works, is not anecdote. Do you know what the word means?

Gosh, things seem to be getting a bit heated.

Personally I do think we have to bear in mind that supermarkets are businesses, not public services. We can't expect them to make sweeping, expensive changes to their business model overnight. I rather think if they could magic up suitable delivery vehicles they'd have done that.

I absolutely agree that people will change their future shopping habits. I've always used Sainsbury's, but I've had a couple of Tesco orders and quite liked them. I'll reconsider who I shop with in the future.

I always keep a track on the price of my shopping and I have noticed that prices at my local Tesco have gone up a little on most products. Not just removing all the special offers but other things too. My supermarket bill was doubled this week (partly because of the lack of availability of cheaper products, partly because I normally shop at aldi and this week I shopped at ocado, partly because everyone is at home and not eating out)

Is astonishing how cynical and negative people are choosing to be.

The supermarkets and supply chains area under the most huge stress and pressure. I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be to be working in that are at the moment. The panic buying had thrown all their systems or of whack, and nothing, absolutely nothing, from field to factory, to shelves will be operating as normal. Not to mention that a lot of key logistics people are probably off sick or isolating too.
People's heads must be exploding simply trying to keep us fed.

I'm bloody grateful to them all, frankly. But other people clearly just want to think the worst of everyone.

Wholesale prices are increasing, countries across the world are struggling to pick their crop and get it to the processing plants. Economies are shrinking, inflation is rising... It's not all going to suddenly go back to normal. High prices and less stock are here to stay imo.

I'm convinced my shop has got more expensive by a great deal. I have the max 80 items in the last slot I could get and it's over £120. I would normally fill in trolly in Aldi to the brim for £90.

Theres lots of things I'm going to do once this is over. One is recoup the excess I have spent on shopping so going to go back to Aldi weekly, not my usual once a month for a big shop. It's going to have to be my main shop.

@MintyMabel I think you need to calm down a little....people are allowed to disagree with you without being accused of being 'to stupid to understand'. Its not a very nice personality trait you seem to have there....

I think we should agree to disagree- end of 'conversation'...