Tesco, British Grocer, Uses Weather to Predict Sales

New York Times, September 2, 2009 — Britain often conjures images of unpredictable weather, with downpours sometimes followed by sunshine within the same hour — several times a day.

Such randomness has prompted Tesco, the country’s largest grocery chain, to create its own weather team in hopes of better forecasting temperatures and how consumer demand changes with them. After three years of research, the six-person team has created its own software that calculates how shopping patterns change “for every degree of temperature and every hour of sunshine,” Tesco said last month.

Tesco expects the team’s forecasts to help it reduce costs and avoid wasting food.

Tesco Customers May Soon Find Chickens at the Checkout Counter†

British Retailer Joins 'Grow Your Own' Movement by Renting Out Allotments, Selling Live Birds

Advertising Age, July 28, 2009 — Tesco, the world's third-largest retailer, is embracing the recession-inspired trend to "grow your own" produce by offering allotment spaces to rent in the U.K and selling live chickens.

In a bid to mark out its green credentials, Tesco has applied for planning permission to create an initial batch of 30 allotments near one of its Dobbies Garden Centre stores near Southport in the north of England. Dobbies, a 24-store chain acquired by Tesco a year ago, has seen a boom in sales of vegetable seeds over the past year, and will also sell an allotment "starter kit" to provide customers with everything they need to get growing and help novices keep soil fertile and sustain the patch of ground

Tesco Tries to Hit a U.S. Curveball†

After Arriving With Grand Plans to Woo Affluent, U.K. Grocer Adjusts to Recession With Budget Brands

Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2009 — In 2007, as it rolled out ambitious plans to break into the U.S. market, British retailer Tesco PLC emphasized the high-quality foods at its Fresh & Easy supermarkets. Fifteen months, 114 stores and a deep recession later, the company has made big changes to its strategy: steep price cuts, aggressive advertising and a new budget brand.

Cut the Mustard

Red Dot Square uses virtual reality to reinvent the center of the store

Hub, December 1, 2008 — Yes, it is critically important to understand how the mindset of the shopper is different from that of the consumer. But we must not forget that the shopper and the consumer is the same person. The greatest challenge of shopper marketing is, in fact, connecting the shopper experience to the consumer experience. The most important insight of all is how shoppers plan to use what they buy once they’re back home, once again living their lives as consumers.

Tesco reinvents the 7-Eleven

The British retail giant is out to break the mold with gourmet mini-supermarkets in Southern California,

FORTUNE, November 26, 2007 — Convenience stores have long been a place to pick up beer and pork rinds. Earlier this month Tesco launched a $2 billion, five-year plan to change that. The British retailing giant just opened the first gourmet mini-supermarket in Hemet, Calif. Dozens more of these Fresh & Easys are scheduled to open over the next three months throughout California and the Southwest. Analysts think Tesco could grow their ranks to more than 1,000 in the next five years.

'Big-Headed' Tesco May Start A Retail Revolution

MediaPost Publications, October 31, 2007 — TESCO IS GETTING CLOSER TO introducing Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets. The first U.S. stores from the British retailing giant are scheduled to open on Nov. 8 in California, followed by Las Vegas stores on Nov. 14. And Tesco just announced that some San Diego locations will open on Nov. 16.

British Grocer Tesco Comes to America

NPR, August 7, 2007 — The giant British retailer Tesco plans to open several dozen grocery stores in California, Arizona, and Nevada this fall. If successful, the stores could be the beginning of a nationwide rollout.

Tesco Studies Hard for U.S. Debut†

CEO Leahy Sends Teams to Observe How Americans Shop, See What's in Their Fridges

Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2007 — The chief executive of Tesco PLC, Terry Leahy, runs a retail chain that's twice the size of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the United Kingdom. And this fall, even though the U.S. is considered over-crowded with stores, Mr. Leahy plans to expand into Wal-Mart's home turf.

Tesco May Change American Idea Of Convenience Stores

MediaPost Publications, March 16, 2007 — WHILE FOOD RETAILERS AREN'T ANY closer to knowing exactly what British supermarket giant Tesco has planned for the U.S. when it begins opening stores here later this year, some observers expect it to hit a sweet spot.

Trailblazing Tesco

Forbes, December 5, 2006 — Ah, to make it big in America. So far it's been nearly impossible for British supermarkets like J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer to set up shop in the U.S., but Tesco, the U.K.'s biggest retailer, wants to buck that trend.