Every little helps Tesco take on German disruptors
It seems the Big Four supermarkets are fighting back against German disruptors Aldi and Lidl, with big beast Tesco reporting better-than-expected figures for the Christmas period.
Despite gloomy City forecasts, the news saw Tesco shares spike as optimism returned for the future of the embattled retailer with the turnaround being spurred by lower prices on some products and more staff in stores.
YouGov’s set of data indicates that the turnaround has been a long time in the making.
Anyone looking at consumer sentiment towards the brand would have seen that the underlying signs for Tesco have been improving for a while.
Our Index score shows a brand’s overall health and is a combination of several metrics – namely its Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction and Reputation measures.
From a low point at the tail end of 2014, Tesco’s Index score has been consistently improving throughout 2015, continuing into this year.
In fact, our research points to this metric being at a two-year high-point, both predicting and reflecting the Christmas success noted in Tesco’s announcement.
While the general trend is one of improving fortunes, our figures also reflect the downturn experienced by Tesco in the 13 weeks to 28 November when it reported a 1.5 per cent fall in sales.
However, the subsequent improvement also mirrors the most recently reported figures. This improvement has not abated yet, providing further good news for the brand.
Yes, there is still a great deal of work to be done both from an operational and marketing point of view to restore Tesco to its former glories.
Whether this year is characterised by the slowing of progress for the discounters is very much up for debate, but perhaps the right strategy is finally being pursued by the larger supermarkets.