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...

When it first opened, only really skint people shopped there ,it wasn't something you bragged about.

Now suddenly on MN it's the best shop ever.

Just makes me laugh is all.

Oh yes and the staff who totally resent helping to pack groceries when you have 4 dcs with you, a very full trolley and a sweat on.

Sainsbury's too.

I actively avoid Tesco's and Sainsbury's.

Too me they are the bottom end of the supermarket choice.

The shops are horrible to go into, it's like stepping back in time 20 years.

They are hideously expensive. On my way home from work I have a choice between a Tesco Express or an M&S for necessities. Guess which one is almost universally cheaper? It ain't Tesco.

Food is bland at best and inedible at worst.

Bought some rocky road squares as a treat a while back - they were VILE. How the fuck can you get rocky roads wrong? They are marshmallow, biscuit and dried fruit covered in chocolate. My four-year-old can make them. I don even want to know what the hell happened there.

They overcharge you and their offers are shite. Say Radox are doing a promotion with the main supermarkets. In Asda, it'll be £1 a bottle. In Sainsbury's, it'll be 2 for £2. Waitrose will probably do 2 for £3. Fucking Tesco will do 5 bottles for £8 or something absurd, and even then they'll charge you a tenner and you'll have to go to customer services for your money back.

I only go to our local large one in emergencies because it's 24 hours. But even then it always takes half an hour longer and costs 50% more than it should.

I agree with usual - Aldi, Lidl were shameful places to shop before the latest recession when canny shopping became more of a source of pride. Going back a little further, people used to hide own label products in heir shopping trolleys because of the shame factor of not buying "proper" brands.

But back to the point, I do like Tesco clothes for the children, but he food quality's rubbish. IMHO.

Online shopping got me. I used to use Tesco but Ocado is better and price matches to Tesco if it isn't cheaper, which it usually is.

Maybe there are more skint people on mn than you realise.

I'm in the minority then! I've never had a problem with Tesco. Used their online shopping for years and not one single issue. And that includes deliveries to Ireland, Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and home. Every driver lovely, every item correct.

That's not to say this thread hasn't raised some valid points but I haven't experienced them.

I have tried Aldi for the first time recently. There was very little in there I could buy and I really hated the manager coming out and shouting at one of the checkout staff in front of everyone. Oh and no trolleys and a shoulder shrug when a group of us informed the staff.

I have never forgotten when Tesco treated me like absolute shite, lied to me and let me down badly. And they NEVER apologised which was unforgivable.

Convenience ment I still used them a lot but I have moved away from them this year. They are inundating me with vouchers ATM so might do next big shop there - £12 off £60 shop plus lots of ££ off regular items.

But actually I prefer Ocado, lidl and aldi these days. (sainsburys are top of my supermarket shit list ATM).

I'm not skint. No stealth boast there.

I'm just not an idiot when it comes to spending money on shite groceries.

Our local one spent a fortune putting in a fancy new bakery and the bread is vv expensive and rubbish. WTF bother?

That's not what I'm saying,Chub.

I went into tesco last week and got a few things in a basket - I was waiting in the queue to pay when a lady stopped behind me and started to put her three items down on the belt. This would mean she was third in the queue and I had about 7-8 items and the lady in front was about to pay.

The cashier barked at the lady behind me to get in the basket checkout the other side from her, now this queue had about 7 people already with rather overfilled baskets in some cases.

I never knew their would be a rule you had to get in the basket queue with a basket and couldn't get in a normal queue. i also wouldn't want to be barked at whilst shopping, it wasn't pleasant.

It was bad service, I shall avoid for a while

that is until I run out of something as tesco is like my corner shop, the rest of the time I do my full shop at lidl and sainsbury as it works out cheaper and nicer food items

There is frequently NO British Lamb on the shelves of my local Tesco even now at prime lamb market season - the shelves are instead always full of imported New Zealand Lamb.

Someone locally wrote to Tescos to ask them why and Tesco responded that it is because British Lamb is currently NOT IN SEASON!!!

Oh so September - December when all the spring born lamb has come of age and is nice and ready for lovely eating is out of season!? Ridiculous.

Our local MP has actually taken this up with tesco himself
timfarron.co.uk/en/article/2013/733518/mp-slams-tesco-after-supermarket-giant-says-british-lamb-isn-t-in-season

Well actually that is what I'm saying.

People are skint, that's why they shop in Aldi,not Tesco.

make your mind up, dear

Yes I use m&s at lunchtimes to buy milk etc. Same price as tesco and they like me in there.

We have tesco metro as our local shop and the staff are v nice but I rarely need to go there.

My point being that just as the great british public is starting to become more food aware in regards to ethics and sourcing TESCO seems to be going backwards. For a primarily food retailer they know very little about food. Thats why I don't shop there at all, I shop at Morrisons for basics which is just as cheap and locally has excellent butchery AS WELL, or at Booths (northern upmarket supermarket) if I am wanting something special.

I don't shop in Aldi over Tesco because I'm skint. I'm not skint. I shop in Aldi because I prefer it to Tesco for price, quality, staff & overall shopping experience

& I have been shopping there for 2 or 3 years

& before that I shopped regularly at Lidl for the same reason

as WinkyWinkola says, "I'm just not an idiot when it comes to spending money on shite groceries"

I think the profits of all the supermarkets should have gone down - food prices are up, the customers are squeezed, transports costs are up - so the one thing that did have a lot of give in it was the supermarket margin.

They treat their suppliers like shit. The whole ethics of the company annoy me. Stocking meat that has mainly been produced in Europe where they have less stringent laws on animal cruelty. But then they make it difficult to work out where it is from as its in tiny print.

The shops are too big and take forever to get around. Cheesy little advertising slogans that I've hated even since the Dudley Moore and Jane Horrocks days.

A security guard came and snatched a lipgloss tester off my 3 year old dd and put it back on the stand. She wasn't doing any harm just testing it on the back of her hand. He could have said something to me if there was a problem, I was just left speechless!

Well ,people were ashamed to shop in Aldi before the recession and those who didn't need to looked down on people who did .Now they are skint so they shop there too.

Better? Dear.

WestmorlandSausage

my dad used to work in the meat trade and worked mainly with lamb

he asked in sainsbury why they never had lambs liver or kidney and they said it wasn't in season to which he replied which planet do you think we live on if it isn't in season here then it is in the southern hemisphere so it has to be in season all year round because you import new zealand lamb.

It is there stock answer and they just hope you are stupid enough not to know when it is the season as the store staff don't have a clue.

We usually have lamb for christmas dinner as it is the best time to get lamb before it turns one on new years day

if anybody ever chose to look down on anybody else for where they shopped, at any time, that was their problem (& their wasted money)

Fresh food is mediocre and their bakery section is crap.

Staff are generally crap - too many kids with no incentive to give a decent customer experience - what they're paid to do. Also at the ones I go to there's too many staff with a limited knowledge of English.

Queues move too slowly - they need to take the lead from Waitrose in this respect and all others, actually. Going into the stores in densely populated areas at peak times is hell.

Aisles are too narrow.

All in all an awful shopping experience.

People are skint yes but I definitely hope this is a long term awareness and permanence of the canny shopper where they take price and animal welfare into account.

Let's squeeze those supermarkets and make them more supplier and consumer sympathetic instead of their previously vast profits and poor service.

We need to make it clearer what we require as consumers.