Tesco: What now?

This morning’s announcement more or less met expectations and will be a continual topic for commentators in the coming months…

Meanwhile, NAMs have to pull together a plan of action, get in the car and drive to Cheshunt...

Essentially, from a NAM’s point of view, there are now effectively three Tescos in play:

• A small business-development task force focused on growing the business, profitably
• A fire-fighting Tesco tasked with ensuring that the ‘here & now’ is optimised, keeping to the regulatory guidelines, ensuring that nothing compromises business growth
• A ‘historical-records’ Tesco whose sole aim is to satisfy all demands for details of past transactions, tidy up record-keeping systems, clarify Commercial Income elements & KPIs, and demand appropriate records from suppliers…

Suppliers might be well advised to replicate this structure in their dealings with ‘The Three Tescos’ in order to make the best of what will otherwise be an ultra-conservative and risk-averse approach to managing what is still the UK’s biggest and most profitable grocer…