Sir; While I take no pleasure in the problems of others, it was heartening to read the feature Rocky Ride Stateside' (The Grocer, April 28, page 38). How often we are told how far ahead the Americans are in all walks of life, and that Wal-Mart is going to take over the world. So it was good to find out how good we (OK ­ mainly Tesco) are in the UK at providing internet shopping, while our fellow retailers in the US are finding it far more of a problem. I must say that nearly two years after Wal-Mart bought Asda it doesn't seem to have had the earth shattering affect some people were warning about. Asda was doing fairly well before Wal-Mart took over and, if anything, its performance has tailed off a bit since then. It doesn't seem to be making any impression on Tesco's huge lead. And in Germany Wal-Mart certainly has a few problems. I currently work in the c-store sector, and after a few trips to the US to see what they are up to, I certainly think the Americans' "expertise" in this sector is over-rated. Convenience in the US is very different to the UK with most stores on forecourts and a huge food to go offering. But many US retailers would have difficulty telling you how profitable their food to go sections are because they don't have the technology to measure or manage the staffing levels and wastage involved. I've found that when it comes to EPoS the UK c-store sector is streets ahead of the US. Everything in the US may be bigger, but it's not necessarily better. Name and address supplied {{LETTERS }}