Tesco boss Dave Lewis this week vowed he would return big out of town supermarkets to being the most convenient places for customers to shop, despite a week of historic property write downs for the retailer.
Lewis, who yesterday announced record losses for Tesco of £6.38bn, claimed the most recent figures showed measures to improve availability and service were beginning to pay off, with sales volumes increasing for the first time in more than four years.
The turnaround, he announced, was led by Tesco’s largest stores, which although still down 2.2% year on year, saw sales rising faster than any other part of Tesco’s store estate in Q4.
Lewis claimed the stores were now “worth the trip again” and were “not the dinosaurs that people made them out to be”.
“For the first time in four years and perhaps even longer we’ve got a situation where Kantar is saying that a quarter of a million more people are coming into to our stores,” said the Tesco CEO, who claimed that the recent trend for customers shopping at a range of different shops had been mistakenly thought of by analysts as a preference.
“It’s been said that people like to shop in three or four different places these days,” he added.
“Actually the people I speak to don’t tell me that. They tell me they have to shop in three different places so they can get the best deal and best availability.
“The most convenient way to do your shopping in one space.”
The bounce back in the performance of Tesco Extras outstripped even the growth in sales of Express and compared to a massive 7.5% lfl fall in Extra sales in Q2.
Lewis said that Tesco’s moves to ensure better availability of its top 1,000 lines drove the improved performance, alongside “selected” measures on price which had made Tesco more competitive with the discounters, especially on key lines such as vegetables and fresh meat.
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