Life is tough for Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco's corporate affairs director.
Bound by various legislative and PR-enforced restrictions, she may be hamstrung in her abilities to respond to Tesco's detractors. If I were you, Lucy, here's how I would respond...
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) is currently lobbying against Tesco on behalf of its members, independent retailers and small grocery chains. The ACS claims Tesco's growing presence in the convenience sector and application of 'predatory pricing' have been responsible for the closure of 2000 local stores in the past year alone.
Suggested Tesco response: it's called capitalism. When these local stores opened, they didn't give any thought to the local street traders that preceded them. If local stores had offered better products and service, and not ripped off customers for years with outrageous mark-ups, maybe they would still have some residual customer loyalty left.
The Women's Institute in Cornwall voted to ban all out-of-town supermarkets, including Tesco, to save the area's local shops and, according to Mary Farey, the retired grandmother who devised the ban, defend 'a fundamental part of British life'.
Suggested Tesco response: knickers. Perhaps retirees such as Ms Farey, with a nice pension and a lovely cottage in Cornwall, can afford the estimated 10% price premium independent stores charge over Tesco and other supermarket convenience stores. But unlike the demonstrably middle-class WI, the majority of British consumers are price-sensitive and would prefer to make their own shopping decisions.
The National Economics Foundation (NEF) cites Tesco as a key contributor to what it calls 'clone towns', where the individual character of a local high street has been replaced by a 'monochrome strip of global and national chains that means its retail heart could easily be mistaken for dozens of other bland town centres'.
Suggested Tesco response: since when was variety about the aesthetic look of the high street? How about the variety of products consumers can buy? You might be running a national study of clone towns, but most shoppers care only about their own high street, not how different it looks from the national average. Your liberal agenda might actually limit where people can do their shopping. Let them vote with their feet. If they want unique, poorly stocked and over-priced local outlets, they will keep them in business.
Finally, Lee Scott, chief executive of Wal-Mart and Asda, recently criticised the unfair market advantage of Tesco in the UK and claimed that 'at some point the government has to look at it'.
Suggested Tesco response: that's rich! In the US, Wal-Mart accounts for 60% of the $380bn (£217bn) category known as discount department and general merchandise, and has more than five times the market share of its closest competitor. Scott should probably apply his keen sense of fair play to his own back yard before throwing stones over the fence into ours.
Unfortunately, Tesco's predominant position will preclude it from any of these responses. But wouldn't it be nice if, just for once, a dominant brand went on the front foot to argue for its popular, valued and justifiable place in the market?
30 SECONDS ON... CLONE TOWNS
- Research by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) published in June concluded that 40% of British high streets were 'clones', with a further 26% on the verge of becoming clones.
- Only 33% of British towns were identified by the survey as having retained their own recognisable, distinctive character.
- The NEF suggested that the aggressive spread of chain stores coupled with town centre regeneration and hostile planning decisions could place the future of small, independent local businesses in jeopardy and limit shopping choices.
- It found that specialist shops such as bakers, butchers and fishmongers closed at a rate of 50 a week between 1997 and 2002.
- Almost 1000 communities were left without access to a local bank following branch closures, while traditional local pubs were closing at the rate of 20 a month.
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