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Is Tesco taking over the high street?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
The UK's biggest retailer has announced record full-year profits of £2.55bn - a figure that equates to nearly £5,000 a minute.
Critics say that Tesco, who has a 31% market share, ruins high street diversity and forces independent shops out of business.
Kevin Hawkins, head of the British Retail Consortium, said that supermarkets simply give shoppers “lower prices, better value and more choice."
What do you think of the retailer's profits? Should it be praised for its success? Is Tesco a damaging influence or is it giving people what they want? Has your community been affected by a big supermarket?
Critics say that Tesco, who has a 31% market share, ruins high street diversity and forces independent shops out of business.
Kevin Hawkins, head of the British Retail Consortium, said that supermarkets simply give shoppers “lower prices, better value and more choice."
What do you think of the retailer's profits? Should it be praised for its success? Is Tesco a damaging influence or is it giving people what they want? Has your community been affected by a big supermarket?
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Comments
We don't want them to become a monopoly. I've already stopped shopping there as I think it's too expensive. Iceland and Aldi are much better value. But it seems they're trying to up the ante and get high quality pre prepared food in (a la M&S). I think supermarket takeaways is the direction this country is moving.
Personally, I still love making my own food. And lots of it. Massive portions of everything please.
I'm in two minds about tesco. I buy my meat from the butcher and get my veg from the veg box, and everything else from a supermarket (usually tesco), and that works fine for me - because my commute from work is short and everything is reasonably convenient for me. Having said that, i wouldn't block it because it is so much easier for most people who do work full time and have children, etc etc to go to the supermarket instead of traipsing up and down the high street. I also got very angry when the 'local community' blocked an application for a tesco metro near me, citing that as they had budgens they didn't need it. I hate budgens, they're very overpriced, have rubbish choice AND sell out of date food.
Bear in mind that with the advent of supermarkets, our shopping has gotten much cheaper. 60 years ago, people spent up to (i think) 40% of their income after bills on food, nowadays it's much closer to 20%. Part of this is because of better production and harvesting techniques, but some of it is the competition aspect - which is why when there was a price war a few years ago you could buy a loaf of bread for 12p. I'm not saying it's right, as the price cuts do have to be passed down the supply chain, but at the same time, it has made peoples' quality of life better.
A book worth reading if you're interested in this sort of thing is 'Shopped'. I have no idea who it's by and it's upstairs so i can't be bothered to check.
At the end of the day, they only make billions of pounds because we shop there. If they stop giving their customers exactly what they want, people will stop shopping there. It's a simple equation.
I for one would quite welcome a Tesco Local at the end of my street, they are so much better in terms of quality and value than the shit CostChoppers seen in most neighborhoods.