Tesco has culled nearly half of SKUs from its Express stores as part of Project Reset.
Convenience MD and One Stop CEO Tracey Clements said the retailer had cut 46% of the master range available to Express stores over the past year due to an “availability challenge”.
“It’s fair to say that our range had got a little bit bashed out of shape,” said Clements.
“As well as reducing the range, which is key in stores with this level of trade, we have to have products available and we had a bit of an availability challenge on our hands.”
Clements told the ACS Summit this week that both staff and shoppers had welcomed the range reduction.
“Not only has it made it simpler for colleagues but it has made it much simpler for customers to identify the products they want when they’re in that store on that mission,” said Clements.
Since overhauling its craft beer portfolio in October, Clements said Express stores had experienced 100% weekly like-for-like growth in the category.
The move, which saw Express expand its craft beer range from two to more than 30 different brews, meant stores allocated almost 25% of beer space to speciality and craft.
“We’ve seen incredible growth on that category, which has now led our large Tesco stores to significantly overhaul the craft beer they sell.”
Clements also said that the year-on-year reduction in multibuy promotions in its Extra and superstore estate had extended into Express stores.
“If you’re on a bike, going on the Tube, jumping on a bus or you’ve got the kids with you, then you don’t want a three for two multibuy deal,” she said.
“You just don’t have the time or the space to carry it, you want a simple promotion. We’re moving away from multibuys into much simpler, round-pound deals for customers that are relevant to them as convenience shoppers.”
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