Tesco profits down - where they have gone wrong?

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Not so very long ago, Tesco used to be held up as a massive UK business success story. I've read Tescopoly and sure some people despise them - they've enraged farmers and the protest lobby by aggressive policy with suppliers,store-expansion and squeezing out independent shops.

They've made a bunch of bad decisions outside the UK; but they had a huge loyal customer-base in the UK and a lot of their problems must come down to complacency and not thinking enough about their home-grown customers, despite the masses of data they collect through clubcards.

I'll post my own personal reasons for reducing my shopping with them, but think it would be interesting to have an open-forum to see just how out of touch and poor they have become, with stories from MNetters. Maybe someone from Tesco will read it and have a think about what they can change.

Dear Tesco....

This is where you have gone wrong...

Aldi*

aldi and lidl is what went wrong for tesco - simple they are better priced for food and drink and tesco is greedy and thinks the customer is stupid.

I never shop in Tesco now. I have a son with nut allergy and so many items carry a 'may contain' warning.

Come on Tesco - lemonade? Tinned tuna? Really??

Because no one would shop in Aldi if it wasn't cheap.
People don't shop in Aldi for the quality.

you know this how, usualsuspect?

So you would still shop in Aldi if the products were more expensive?

I think it's also very 'in' to bash Tesco.

Last year dairy farmers were asking people to not buy milk from Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl or Londis and to think twice about Asda and the Co-operative due to the price paid to dairy farmers for milk. Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer all do better on this front.

Food's not good - some of it's ok, passable, but there's very little of interest or quality.

It's become very expensive. I presume what they do is open up in areas that aren't so economically brilliant, stay cheap for a while, then ramp the prices up gradually? It feels like they've done that here.

Way, way too much boring junk food.

And - crucially - the wine is just shite. It doesn't matter how they fiddle the pricing, "halve" the price (ahem double it then half it again) it is just not drinkable. Go into a Sainsbury's and you can get a really nice bottle of wine for not that much really.

The quality is better and it's cheaper. If it were just cheaper I might not bother, I have to drive there so it does cost me a fiver or so. But the quality is also better and the lack of baffling over choice is really refreshing.

The simple fact is, people are skint.

Aldi,Lidl and Asda are cheaper than Tesco.

Some do - if quality and price are important to you that's where you go, well I do anyway

If it were just about price I'd shop in asda. But it isn't.

So you would still shop in Aldi if the products were more expensive?

more expensive than what?

I once did a Tesco order and ordered 3 loaves of brown bread. Order came with no bread, not even any substitutions, as apparently there were no suitable substitutions. No bread in your supermarket Tesco, at all??? Really???. Pissed me right off. Never again.

anyway, as they aren't, it's a pojntless argument

I am happy to shop there

I am happy with the quality

I am happy with the prices

I am happy with the staff

none of that applies to Tesco

I'm in Ireland. I don't have a Tesco nearby but used to happily drive 25-60 miles to one of the ones in my region as the prices were worth it and the range was fantastic.

I no longer Di so for the following reasons;

• Prices have gone through the roof and the deals are terrible .. Multibuys without enough stock so I can't avail, products which used to be good value are massively increased in price

• The range is poor, I went last week as I was nearby and ended up having to top up in supervalu as so many products which used to be my Tesco staples weren't available anymore. Really good products have been discontinued with no replacements available.

• The stores are grubby and badly organised, the veg section is getting smaller each time I visit and the general feel of the shops is unpleasant.

• staff are appalling. It's all very well insisting they ask for a clubcard and quote sales quips but if they clearly hate their jobs it's not going to work... Cut out the gimmicks and invest in making it a pleasant work environment so that staff are relaxed and cheerful. I'd rather staff were smiling and forgot to ask me for my clubcard than that they ticked all the management boxes but are surly and miserable.

More expensive than Tesco or wherever.

People shop in Aldi to save money.

Crap fruit and veg. Expensive too. I go to Waitrose for the quality if im on the area.

Tesco is totally uninspiring, over priced and poor quality food.

And the same goes for Sainsbury's.

I prefer Waitrose, Morrison's and Asda.

People shop in Aldi to save money

yes, true; but to save money while getting better quality than at the big supermarkets

I'm getting the impression you haven't actually tried Aldi, usualsuspect. obviously you feel it's beneath you

I do still shop, very occasionally, in Tesco for things Aldi don't stock like Millicano/Instinct coffee (though only on special offer) or interesting tinned beans. but I always feel I'm doing them a huge favour

I also sometimes shop at Booths, which is far from cheap, but has lots of stuff I can't get anywhere else

Beneath me?

I think I was shopping in Aldi long before it became the trendy place to shop.

In fact people used to take the piss out of your Aldi carrier bags when it first opened.

Anyway, I was just answering the OP.

Aldi and lidl happened to Tesco.

I hate tesco, it just feels like a place to endured rather than enjoyed. We have 2 in the city and neither of them stocks enough vegetarian food. Not crappy fake meat but things like tofu and falafels.
I also dislike the narrow aisles filled with metal cages and staff who get huffy when you want to look at something on the shelf they are stacking.

I cut my shopping bill when I started going to lidl and waitrose, from spending £130ish a week, I now spend under £100 most weeks. We don't skimp and we eat very well with a few bottles of wine as treats.

I stopped using Tesco after one too many online shopping disasters. E.gs include

Always several items not delivered and no substitutes offered (so you had nothing like Tesco cheddar cheese instore? Not another brand or even another type of cheese? Really?). I would always have to go to the shop afterwards to buy the missing items which completely negates the reason for online shopping in the first place!!

Half of all my deliveries did not arrive in the time slot which meant lots of waiting in for no reason

Expensive and poor quality. I can get similar (better quality) stuff at my local Aldi and butcher plus it's cheaper.

In store my weekly shop took ages as the store is huge. I can never find what I want. I can do my Aldi shop in 20 mins max. Less choice but for me that's a good thing!

I remember that Usualsuspect.
I used to get the Hmmm face. Ridiculous

You do seem a bit insistent on the idea of aldi being "trendy".