Why I shop at Tesco
It’s the in thing to hate Tesco. You’re cool if you reject Tesco and it’s plans to take over the world.
The proponents of the anti-Tesco campaign have many reasons about why you should not shop there.
The supermarkets wipe out the local shops and markets, they misuse their buying power, they work in cartels against free trade, their products are produced in foreign countries with cheap slave labour, their buildings are not in keeping with the local environment, they force shoppers to go out of town, etc.
However I shop at Tesco in spite of the above because most of the points are not valid. Anyway, shopping at Tesco is convinent, and I can do a lot of the weekly shopping in one go.
The supermarkets do not wipe out local shops and markets just by setting up. The reason local markets do not tend to survive after a supermarket comes into town is usually because they don’t respond competively. Even a small shop can do things that Tesco can never hope to do. Its finding these little gaps in Tesco’s abilities and using it to their advantage. For instance not all shoppers go shopping purely on price. If they did then there wouldn’t be any Fortnum and Mason and all shops would be Lidl. Some people appreciate service and that is where local shops can excel. Anyway, Tesco aren’t always the cheapest. Lidl and Aldi and Netto (Asda) are.
Selling cheap products is a good thing for society. It means that those on lower wages can afford some of the stuff that used to be preserve of the rich. Being able to buy food cheaply means that those on low wages can afford to feed themselves and still have money left over for other things and don’t need state (or charity) help to help them out.
Even though I shop at Tesco (other supermarkets do exist) I do also go to the local market and local shops. I go there for the better quality product at reasonable and sometimes cheaper prices. Yes it’s inconvienent because of the lack of parking so I usually walk, but I consider it worthwhile because the quality of the product is so much better than those from supermarkets. Some times I like the quality of some product, at other times I go for cheapness. Your milage may vary in which products you prefer cheap and which for quality.
It’s not the fault of the supermarkets that they have to build their shops out of town. That’s down to planning policy as written by politicians, implemented by civil servants, and imposed by those who have let power go their heads. The council thinks it’s best not to upset all the little shop keepers who don’t want to change with the times and their customers who are fixated on tradition. So the supermarkets build their shops out of town. And all the customers drive away from the all the little shop keepers to the out of town retail parks and do all their shopping there. Result? Local shops lose out.
The lack of parking for local shops is another reason why they fail to compete fairly with the supermarkets. But it’s not the supermarket’s fault. Again it’s the planning policy of the council and the council’s usually excessive car parking charges. Compare car parks in town centres which cost a bomb to car parks at supermarkets and in retail parks where it is free. Where would you rather go. The supermarket would have to be some distance to cost more in fuel than the parking charges.
If the council had allowed the supermarket to build in the town centre in the first place, then customers would still be going to the other shops as well. It helps shops to have competitors around. For example, the Curry Mile in Manchester has dozens of curry houses of all shapes sizes and types and they all do extremely well because there is enough variety to keep everyone happy. Forcing a curry house to set up amongst craft shops doesn’t help the curry house, nor the craft shops.
The supermarkets are responding to customer pressure and are building and using smaller shops more suited to the centre of towns. Here they have used their marketing clout and legal pressure to be able to get planning permission from the councils to do so.
The cheap products made by cheap foreign labour is only cheap when the wages are compared direcly with UK wages. In the foriegn country the cost of living will be different and the workers at least are working and have a good wage with respect to many others of their compratriots. The working conditions might not be the same as ours but then ours does have extreme health and safety rules. And the trade with the foriegn country means that that country is earning money. Some countries don’t have mineral resources to trade with so instead they trade their labour.
Once the country has been providing cheap labour for a while, the living conditions of those working will get better. Then more people will want the work and there will be a demand for more products to be made in the country and with cheap labour many companies will find it attractive. This leads to an increase in wages as the workers realise that their labour is more profitable. And so after some years the standard of living in the country starts to rise to the same level as ours. This has been seen in China already. Ten years ago you would be hard pushed to find Chinese millionaires, now there are plenty. And the ordinary Chinese person will have all the mod cons that most westerners have. Now that China has caught up, it’ll be Africa next where cheap products will be made.
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May 25, 2011 at 12:04 -
I completely agree. Tesco makes a profit and is popular because it provides me and a great deal of other people with a service. I know what i am getting. If I want specialty items – let’s say meat which is a “cut above” (pardon the pun) – I make the effort to take a trip to the excellent local farm shop which is thriving because of the quality and price of its products. Both provide SERVICE but in different ways
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May 25, 2011 at 12:24 -
I think people have very short memories. Not very long ago, shopping for “essentials” and doing the washing took all week for one member of each household. Supermarkets reduce the shopping part to an hour or so a week. If that isn’t [usually] women’s liberation I don’t know what is. Note that the people who are generally against Tesco are pretentious twats like Banksy and Polly Toynbee who don’t have to fit all the boring humdrum stuff into their week unlike us plebs who actually work full time.
Why do some people hate progress so much?
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May 25, 2011 at 13:32 -
Because it’s progress for people that they’d rather didn’t have progress.
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May 25, 2011 at 12:24 -
Unfortunately SBML , looked at from a slightly diferent perspective, lots of the above doesn’t really stack up and is a sort of extreme free marketism and damn the consequences.
In no particular order, the obvious flaws in your argument are:
The monopoly buying power of tesco et al has been a main cause of the decline in traditional mixed family farms , with a dramatic impact on the diversity of the landscape and has resulted in far more monoculture. This degrades the biosphere and is very detrimental to wild life.
Decline of small farms leads to a loss in rural employment. Net result 35% of houses in the vilage I live in are second homes. Net result locals priced out , school closes. Net result only wealthy retirerees live there, so local bus services / pub / shops close.
The ability of the tescos to set up huge supermarkets on the edge of small rural towns unhindered is to the everlasting shame of Heseltine and that Conservative administration. Access to them should have been by toll road, with the takings used to build facilities such as free central parking. The net result has been the life sucked out of the High Street, with , even in relatively prosperous communities , probably 20% of the shops being charity shops.
What about the food you seem so pleased for everyone to enjoy ? The only concern of tesco is that it looks pretty , and on the whole, thats all it does !-
May 25, 2011 at 12:29 -
Hmm, most of these criticisms are of the planning system rather than a direct result of Tesco per se. As for the competition issues you raise, barely a year goes past without some new investigation being launched into the industry. The results always come back as “actually, the market is quite healthy”. Presumably you think that the competition authorities are incompetent or corrupt?
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May 25, 2011 at 12:52
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May 25, 2011 at 12:30 -
Well put indeed.
Plus the Tesco near me has never refused to accept my custom due to the fact I’m female and wanted to buy alcohol, as happened in a local shop once. Well done mate, the result is that I have spent the last 12 years shopping elsewhere, and your business went under (that’ll happen if you tell Yorkshire women that you won’t accept their cash unless their husbands are the ones to fork it over).
The Tesco seems to be doing quite well, though…
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May 25, 2011 at 13:37 -
“Plus the Tesco near me has never refused to accept my custom due to the fact I’m female and wanted to buy alcohol, as happened in a local shop once. “
There is their annoying kow-towing to the nannystaters over the ‘Look under 25?’ nonsense, though.
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May 25, 2011 at 17:35 -
Not sure why you’re complaining, I’ve never met a woman that looks under 25
) *runs*
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May 25, 2011 at 12:35 -
“Ten years ago you would be hard pushed to find Chinese millionaires, now there are plenty. ”
You can’t measure a country’s success by the number of millionaires. The fact there are more millionaires and billionaires in the world than in the past just means the rich/poor divide is getting wider in the same way that Tesco’s increasing profits are on the back of smaller businesses losing out.
One point you miss is employment – yes, Tesco employ thousands of people but it would be better if there were more jobs in local areas – less travelling needed and more community spirit.
Most of us use the big supermarkets out of necessity, having been left in a position where we can’t afford to eat otherwise – this doesn’t mean we support the way they operate.
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May 25, 2011 at 12:44 -
What absurd logic. If you want more people to be employed in the production and distribution of your food it is either going to cost more or the people will have to be paid less.
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May 25, 2011 at 12:55 -
I agree with you on this point.
That’s why the greenies who say that green energy is good because it means more people employed in it’s production is an absurd case too. As well as the lower cost of producing the energy, you generally want fewer people involved in generating/producing something so that it frees up others to go and make more and better things of other stuff.
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May 25, 2011 at 13:36 -
And for every green job created you 3.4 normal jobs – mainly because of higher costs of things like power, steel works anyone…
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May 25, 2011 at 21:14 -
should have been – loose 3.4 normal jobs – sorry.
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May 25, 2011 at 14:38 -
A trifle harsh Blue Eyes ! It is a fact that the proportion of household income spent on food has dropped significantly over a period of between 50 and 100 years. I would argue that this is not the blessing it at first appears to be, in terms of quality of life and the actual enjoyment of the product. I’m thinking Italian ‘slow food’ movement here , and spending more on the actual food and less on the packaging and advertising.
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May 25, 2011 at 15:47 -
There is nothing to stop a customer from buying the overpriced organolocal nonsense you espouse. There is no shortage of purveyors of such merchandise.
I was merely pointing out that the logic in Aaaaaaaaargh’s comment is non-existent: he/she said that people are driven to Tesco against their will because food is expensive* and therefore we should make it more expensive by ensuring that more people are involved in its production and distribution.
* which, as you point out is rubbish as a starting point but never mind
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May 25, 2011 at 15:51 -
Also, I don’t know about you but the thing I love about food is its variety. For example tonight I might have a pasta/pesto thing and tomorrow I might treat myself to a curry. How many of those ingredients do we produce domestically? Would it have even been possible to cook such meals at home in the UK fifty years ago? You are right, life is shit.
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May 25, 2011 at 21:18 -
Backwoodsman does have a point.
A lot of the ‘cheap’ food now available is processed ready-meals, some of which are cheaper than you can buy the fresh ingredients (which makes you wonder about the quality of ingredients in the ready-meals – imported rubbish produced to far lower standards than those our own farmers have to comply with, quite often). Fewer people cook from scratch nowadays, as well.
In the end, with food as with all things in life, you get what you pay for. Pay peanuts, you’ll get rubbish more often than not.
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May 25, 2011 at 21:56 -
I bought a Pizza for £1 at Asda last night. I learned recently how to make a pizza. Mines uses mostly organic ingredients, but I estimate it cost me £4 or so to make my own.
The economies of scale are what keeps the cost of processed food down. Although I wonder at times what I am eating.
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May 25, 2011 at 22:26 -
Blue Eyes
The problem is, this is looked at from a purely financial point of view rather than what is best for local communities.
Tesco have become the new banks (figuratively as well as literally) in that they have been allowed to get ‘too big to fail’.
They should be forced to break down their various interests such as insurance, banking etc into separate entities, (much like the proposals to reform banks) and made to compete on a level playing field….
and this would result not in higher costs and less employment but a relocation of employment to local areas and a boost the small businesses that we need.Apologies to Anna Raccoon but I blogged this at: http://aaaaargh.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/sharing-economy/
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May 25, 2011 at 13:40 -
I find shopping in Morrisons a depressing experience, shopping in Tesco interesting, and shopping in Waitrose deeply sexually gratifying
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May 25, 2011 at 13:48 -
I hope to meet you halfway up aisle three in Waitrose later!
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May 25, 2011 at 16:53 -
The whole purpose of Tescos is to keep the lower classes out of Waitrose – long may they prosper
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May 25, 2011 at 18:02 -
I thought that was the whe purpose of Sainsbury!
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May 25, 2011 at 19:19 -
Sainsbury’s leaves me frigid
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May 25, 2011 at 21:08 -
Thought that would be Iceland….
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May 25, 2011 at 13:52 -
I have some first hand evidence of the modus operandi of these behemoths:
1. Establish a basic food shop.
2. Study the neighbourhood and select small shops that are doing well.
3. Add goods/new sections to steal the small shop’s trade.
4. Repeat until there are no more small shops around.
5. Increase prices for the new ranges.
6. Repeat on a new site.
This cannot be called fair competition.-
May 25, 2011 at 16:29 -
The slight flaw in that logic is that you’ve just described the MO of Supermarket1
Supermarket2 then applies that same logic to S/mkt1
Then S/mkt3 applies it to S/mkt2. Ad infinitum.
Is that ‘unfair’ competition?
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May 25, 2011 at 19:14 -
Well no, but after they have (unfairly) destroyed all the little shops, the big three then go for loss-leaders and undercutting each other. This will neither bring back small shops nor healthy competition.
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May 25, 2011 at 13:55 -
I well recall Moonbat chastising supermarket users as “idiots”. I noted to him, that as the father in a family of four children, with mum working as well, we could either spend the whole weekend shopping at local shops for all we needed, or do it in an hour at Tescos, and have the rest of the weekend to devoted to the kids. Cretin.
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May 25, 2011 at 14:25 -
Tesco are corporate crooks.
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May 25, 2011 at 16:30 -
And your supermarket employer isn’t?
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May 30, 2011 at 07:31 -
“Corporate Crooks?”
Which laws are they breaking to justify “crook”? Nonsense. They deliver the benefits of market share in keen prices and people flock to shop there, by free choice.Your cheap shot smacks of Bristol petrol-bomb facists. THEY are the enemy,”anti-capitalist” benefit-farming soap-dodgers
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May 25, 2011 at 15:02 -
I don’t really understand something.
When a small business puts someone else out of business because they provide a better service/goods/price, that’s perfectly fine.
When a big business does exactly the same thing it’s unfair?
Why?
But yes, this thread has reminded me why I never go into the shops in my town, they have pedestrianised the whole area, so now the nearest car park is a 10 minutes walk from the shops and a minimun of £1.20.
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May 25, 2011 at 15:53 -
Agreed. As long as the big boys don’t have a dominant position in the market. And as I pointed out above, although people keep saying that the supermarkets do, the competition authorities remind us very regularly that they actually don’t. If Tesco hiked its prices or slashed its service, it would soon collapse.
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May 25, 2011 at 16:19 -
The role of developed countries’ companies sourcing from less developed countries is a key positive factor of globalisation.
It has been dragging millions out of poverty for years.
Conditions are initially terrible by my top 1 % pampered position, but hey, they happen to be better than the alternative, otherwise nobody would take the job. Pick through a radio-active rubbish dump or spend 10 hours in a clean safe environment with a ‘crap but higher than my mate’s wage’
New debate on the horizon. Some American firms are now planning to maintain production facilities, or open production facilities in the old US of A when not so long ago everything was going to China.
It is early but they have realised that although China is still cheaper, the salaries are rising so fast that there will be a point in some industries where the competitive advantage disappears and those companies will shift production close to the market; in their case, home. They have realised that they are t a manufacturing use it or lose it stage where if they don’t do it now, when they want to they will have lost the expertise.
That is what’s good about development and globalisation. Aid-created corruption is worse.
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May 25, 2011 at 16:34 -
As a company with the turnover exceeding the GDP of many countries, Tesco must be doing something right.
Nobody is forced to shop at Tesco; but many many millions in the UK choose to. Every week.
It’s not all that long ago when Tesco itself was just a corner shop. A single one.
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May 25, 2011 at 16:56 -
I had to laugh at the riots in Bristol about the Tesco Express, the fact that Tesco built “another” shop in Bristol is proof that there was a market for another Tesco Express, regardless of what a few yobs thought.
We shop at Aldi now, the biggest difference is in the pocket, I can spend £35 a week (for two people) in Aldi (not ready meals). At Tesco our shop would be more in the 65-70 range. The only things we get from Tesco are Wholemeal Pasta/Rice and Porridge Oats.
If Tesco’s buying power is so good why is their whole milk 25p dearer than Iceland? The fact is Tesco give deals on the non-essential range, BOGOF’s and BTGOF’s, yet rape you on your every day essentials, milk, bread etc.
If you want choice, stick with Tesco, if you want cheaper quality food and you’re not a brand whore, head to Aldi, if you’re going to Tesco and buying their home brand stuff, go to Aldi, there are better quality products for the same price you pay at Tesco.
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May 25, 2011 at 22:03 -
And if you have time to queue all day go to Lidl/Aldi
Ryanair Retail we call them. Its not quite what you want but its close. I like KLM myself.
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May 25, 2011 at 17:29 -
Back in the days when Supermarkets were not permitted to open on Sundays I owned three convenience stores which traded under the Spar banner. This was early to mid 80′s and at that time an efficient convenience store operator could earn a very good living. 25% of the week’s turnover was typically taken on a Sunday and a high proportion of this trade were higher margin luxury items. Grocery which typically had a gross margin of 15% was not such a feature of the Sunday trade then.
However the playing field was not level for small business owners. In convenience retailing it is essential to be able to offer the full convenience range including alcohol and newspapers. I applied three times for a liquor license for my second shop and was refused by the licensing magistrates on the grounds that there was insufficient demand for another license as there was Thresher wine shop within 200 yards. However when Sainsburys built a superstore within 400 yards they were granted a license immediately and all objections were ignored. A similar story with newspapers. Newspapers then were controlled by wholesalers with a regional monopoly. I could not buy papers as there was a newsagents within 200 yards of my shop but Sainsburys had no problem.
The independent convenience trade effectively ceased (obviously some niche sites remain profitable) when the Sunday trading laws were changed as a result of supermarket company lobbying of Westminster. The independent traders associations did not have sufficient funds to lobby effectively. (they would have lost anyway as lifestyles have changed and the public wanted Sunday opening).
Fortunately I saw the writing on the wall and sold my three shops to a national chain who have since been absorbed by another national chain.
However I do not resent Sainsburys or Tescos. They provide an excellent shopping environment with cheap and mostly quality wares. They are in the business of maximising profit and they do it by giving us what we want.
I resent the politicians and bureaucrats who pay lip service to small pressure groups but ALWAYS follow the money and connive to create barriers to trade for small entrants and do not do their job which is to ensure fairness and equality for all.
To anyone who imagines a return to a high street of yesteryear I would say: Get over it. Markets change and evolve. Internet shopping and major retailers who have the capital to create wonderful shopping experiences where almost anything can be bought in one place have consigned all but specialist niche retailers to the dustbin. The business model has altered and shopping is now a very different experience. We need to find other uses for our town centres…actually we don’t; the market will evolve these into something else all by itself if the politicians and public paper shufflers stop interfering in the market.
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May 25, 2011 at 18:44 -
Maybe you should seek the opinion of a few of those farmers bancrupted by Tesco’s predatory buying policies … or perhaps ask the families of those farmers driven to suicide their opinion of Tesco.
The company has, almost single-handedly, ripped the heart out of British agriculture.
Still feel good about their low, low prices ?-
May 25, 2011 at 20:56 -
Presumably the British mills and car industry should have been protected from the real word as well?
Change is painful, but it is inevitable. Unless you are a French farmer, of course.
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May 27, 2011 at 09:50 -
How can it be in Tesco’s interest to bankrupt their suppliers? The suppliers went bankrupt because they couldn’t offer the products and prices and services that others could. Failure of weak businesses is the price of competition. The alternative is central planning, and rice and cabbage (only) in the state shop. Still available in North Korea for those that prefer that option.
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May 25, 2011 at 19:59 -
Don’t want to discuss our joint income. It’s embarassingly high compared to the average. But even Tescos is out of our league in terms of price.
It ‘asda be Asda.
Food shopping bills now totalling £150 pw. £120 per month on school meals on top of that.
Yes. We do freeze bread, milk, bogof, use vouchers, use own brands … eat sparingly and we’re all a healthy weight.
Another staycation this year. I mean in our house, not B&B or UK hotel.
Cameron’s having a laugh when he says we middle earners should give more to charity, isn’t he ???
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May 25, 2011 at 20:55 -
How many people are you feeding? I spend about thirty quid a week on food.
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May 25, 2011 at 21:06 -
Perhaps he has a large wife and family to support.
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May 25, 2011 at 22:02 -
I’d be more diplomatic and ask “Perhaps he has a wife and large family to support.”?
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May 26, 2011 at 07:20 -
Oops. Slip of the keyboard…
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May 25, 2011 at 22:03 -
I call our fridge the” Star Trek transporter room” we fill it up, it hums a bit and the food is gone!
It is actually emptied by (us sometimes), children (4, all 35+) Grandchildren(4). It’s a ritual, Hi (choose one of 8), “hello”. Fridge door opens!
I sympathise Kevin, This costing about the same and only 2 of us actually live here! As a hint to save – my wife is an “offer shopper”, I rarely go shopping but I know what’s on offer because there are suddenly 10 or 20 of them sitting in the cupboard! So long as it keeps – buy loads! Biggest haul (to date) was 37 cans of Sweet corn from Waitrose) 59p reduced to 19p with over a year best before. You need a shopping future-float – “buys offers, beats inflation”
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May 25, 2011 at 21:22 -
Just a minor technical point – under Planning Policy Statement 6 planning authorities are expected to promote town centre development. Central to this is a sequential test whereby development proposals closest to town centres get priority. So out-of-town development has taken place in the teeth of planning policy objections.
The real issues are: 1) Parking (and the free-ness of said thing); 2) Rents – nominal rents for out-of-town are approx. 20% of typical town centre rents; 3) Rateable valuation – surface car parking is exempt and valuation is determined by commercial rents not objective land value.
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May 25, 2011 at 22:08 -
SC you’ve hit the nail on the head mentioning parking.
Many areas used to allow 30 minutes free parking so you could pick up 1-2 items from a local shop. However, the Council money-grabbers thought they could generate revenue, and now charge. Result: shoppers drive more miles to free-park at the supermarket; the town centre declines; shops close; and, the Council loses more in Rates than it gains from the few short-term parkers.
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May 30, 2011 at 07:37 -
You are quite right except in one thing – expect Council managers to understand Economics? Not in the person-specification.
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May 25, 2011 at 21:29 -
Tesco certainly take maximum advantage of the situation, not unusual for a commercial company, but I don’t think they are responsible.
I haven’t been ‘into town’ shopping for years. I actively avoid going there because I live 7 miles out, buses are infrequent and take a slow roundabout route while the planners have made car use difficult (blocked roads, humps, residents only zones, poor traffic management) and made town parking both very expensive and inconvenient. So why should I play their games?
The out of town centres, which include supermarkets, are easy to get to, free to park, and the trolley or other goods can be taken to the car. As a result the main retail centre has been forced from the town centre to out of town precincts. Some of which are now developing with small independent shops as shopping villages, because that’s where the customers are now. Meanwhile the town is increasing losing its small shops and interest thus accelerating its demise except for council services, night time entertainment, and services for town workers (who have to go there).
The fault for this lies entirely and completely with town planners, the town centre was and should be the ultimate shopping centre. It could have still been so but for 20 odd years or more council planners have forced people out with shopper hostile planning, controls and costs (on shops and shoppers, often designed to make income for the council). For years they have demonstrated an epic arogance in their ability to control shoppers habits in the face of a total inability to recognise how people behave, that they will vote with their feet and take the easiest route to get the things they need rather than mess about getting into town.
And if I sound angry it’s because I am, they have destroyed the age old symbiotic reltionship between town and countryside whereby each supported the other, one supplying commerce, shops and services while the other provided food and leisure facilities.-
May 28, 2011 at 09:54 -
Damn right. Town centres have been slowly strangled by arrogance, planning and control. I won’t go there. I know when I’m not wanted.
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May 25, 2011 at 19:55
) *runs*
{ 55 comments }