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Tesco remains confident after trimmed sales growth
United Kingdom
Thursday 04 December 2008
Tesco has shrugged off its latest set of sales figures and argued that it is actually matching rivals such as Aldi and Lidl in the current economic climate.
Yesterday the company posted like-for-like sales growth of 2% for the third quarter, roughly half the growth level for the previous quarter.
Finance and strategy director Andy Higginson said the company's competitors have yet to drop prices, while Tesco introduced its Discounter rangemeaning the firm's headline sales growth has dropped.
Higginson said the volume of goods being purchased is going up and the higher inflation on items bought in competitor shops has boosted rival stores' results this quarter.
He added: "Our business has changed shape quite a lot; we launched the Discounter range and reduced prices so we can look in people's eyes and say, 'We can match the German discounters price for price and quality for quality'."
After switching data revealed by TNS yesterday claimed Tesco is losing customers to other supermarkets, Higginson said in some cases the company is taking business from its rivals.
He commented: "We have been picking up share from M&S, Waitrose and the Co-op and lost a bit to Aldi and Lidl, Asda and Morrisons. But we've seen people go from us to Aldi and Lidl less."
Yesterday the company posted like-for-like sales growth of 2% for the third quarter, roughly half the growth level for the previous quarter.
Finance and strategy director Andy Higginson said the company's competitors have yet to drop prices, while Tesco introduced its Discounter rangemeaning the firm's headline sales growth has dropped.
Higginson said the volume of goods being purchased is going up and the higher inflation on items bought in competitor shops has boosted rival stores' results this quarter.
He added: "Our business has changed shape quite a lot; we launched the Discounter range and reduced prices so we can look in people's eyes and say, 'We can match the German discounters price for price and quality for quality'."
After switching data revealed by TNS yesterday claimed Tesco is losing customers to other supermarkets, Higginson said in some cases the company is taking business from its rivals.
He commented: "We have been picking up share from M&S, Waitrose and the Co-op and lost a bit to Aldi and Lidl, Asda and Morrisons. But we've seen people go from us to Aldi and Lidl less."
