John Wood
Improved availability was one of the key drivers pushing Tesco's UK profits and sales to record levels, according to chief executive Sir Terry Leahy.
Speaking at the publication of Tesco's annual results, Sir Terry said the company's new continuous replenishment system was giving Tesco world beating availability. "We have improved availability by more than 2%, which may not sound like much, but from a base of 97-98%, it's quite an achievement."
He said Tesco was able to accurately monitor availability because of the instore picking system used by Tesco.com.
The new replenishment system was introduced as part of the Step Change programme, which also focused on factory gate pricing and automating its labour scheduling. Sir Terry said the Step Change programme had delivered savings of £230m this year. Non-food also showed strong growth and Tesco's market share had grown from 1% to 5% in just a few years.
He said: "We have developed better non-food capability. Half of our new space opened this year has been non-food."
He said he believed there was still a lot of potential growth for Tesco in this sector.
The only downbeat note in his presentation was when he revealed four stores intended to be the centre of regeneration schemes, were still awaiting planning approval. He said: "This is regrettable considering the importance of the schemes to these communities."
Commenting on the overall UK results Sir Terry said: "What we have seen in the last year is a return to a more normal level of growth across the industry. This is a time where there will be winners and losers, and with an uncertain consumer environment this will become more apparent."
He also reported strong growth for the international business and said Tesco was now market leader in five countries, profitable in eight of its 10 markets and operated 152 overseas hypermarkets.
>>p32 Tesco in Korea
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Improved availability was one of the key drivers pushing Tesco's UK profits and sales to record levels, according to chief executive Sir Terry Leahy.
Speaking at the publication of Tesco's annual results, Sir Terry said the company's new continuous replenishment system was giving Tesco world beating availability. "We have improved availability by more than 2%, which may not sound like much, but from a base of 97-98%, it's quite an achievement."
He said Tesco was able to accurately monitor availability because of the instore picking system used by Tesco.com.
The new replenishment system was introduced as part of the Step Change programme, which also focused on factory gate pricing and automating its labour scheduling. Sir Terry said the Step Change programme had delivered savings of £230m this year. Non-food also showed strong growth and Tesco's market share had grown from 1% to 5% in just a few years.
He said: "We have developed better non-food capability. Half of our new space opened this year has been non-food."
He said he believed there was still a lot of potential growth for Tesco in this sector.
The only downbeat note in his presentation was when he revealed four stores intended to be the centre of regeneration schemes, were still awaiting planning approval. He said: "This is regrettable considering the importance of the schemes to these communities."
Commenting on the overall UK results Sir Terry said: "What we have seen in the last year is a return to a more normal level of growth across the industry. This is a time where there will be winners and losers, and with an uncertain consumer environment this will become more apparent."
He also reported strong growth for the international business and said Tesco was now market leader in five countries, profitable in eight of its 10 markets and operated 152 overseas hypermarkets.
>>p32 Tesco in Korea
{{NEWS }}
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