Tesco sheds its value stripes in UK rebranding
TESCO has scrapped its blue-and- white striped Tesco Value range of products in favour of a new updated brand, as chief executive Philip Clarke continues to shake up the business in an attempt to revive UK sales.
The Everyday Value range, made up of 550 products, will feature more colourful and “softer” packaging compared with the old Value brand, but it will also see an improvement in quality, Tesco claimed yesterday.
Orange squash, for example, will contain 10 per cent more fruit juice, and grated cheddar will come in a resealable bag.
The supermarket was the first to pioneer the discount category twenty years ago, during the previous recession. Asda and Sainsbury followed shortly after with Smartprice and Basics. Tesco Value now has more than £1bn in sales.
“Almost 20 years on and an affordable quality range is more relevant than ever, but customer needs have changed,” said David Wood, Tesco UK marketing director.
The move comes as chief executive Philip Clarke prepares to announce his turnaround strategy for Britain’s biggest supermarket after it stunned the City with its first profit warning in twenty years in January.
As well as hiring 20,000 new staff over the next two years and revamping stores, Tesco also plans to step up its online business and focus on pricing as it battles to regain market share.
Tesco also closed its second hand car website Tesco Cars yesterday just a year after its launch, saying it had failed to secure a good supply of vehicles.
Tesco said that “given time we would have overcome the challenge but at the moment it’s right to focus on our core business”.