Every little hurts

March 30, 2005 3:45 PM

Tesco, the UK's biggest retailer, recently announced record full-year profits and now controls a frighteningly dominant 27% share of all grocery sales in the UK. Put another way, the retail juggernaut now accounts for one in every eight pounds spent in British shops. Such a lofty position has got many worried and Tesco is getting flak for everything from being responsible for shutting down rural post offices to becoming a fully-paid up agent of Big Brother. Now Tesco has its very own nonaffiliated bloggers. The team behind Supermarket Sweep Up - a vertically targeted blog - say their aim is to place the UK's biggest retailer under "greater public scrutiny". Now that big media can't afford to run decent investigative journalism, is a collaborative 'investigative blogging' the best way forward?
posted by MrMerlot (11 comments total)

Now that big media can't afford to run decent investigative journalism, is a collaborative 'investigative blogging' the best way forward?

Is this some more delicious snark? :-)
My answer to your question would be yes, maybe the only avenue left.
posted by nofundy at 4:14 PM on March 30, 2005

Have no fear, the problem will soon be solved. WalMart will crush Tesco when they arrive in the UK. ;-)
posted by ilsa at 5:14 PM on March 30, 2005

ilsa: Walmart is already in the UK - they own Asda, the #2 UK supermarket, and have done for over 5 years now. Tesco remains strangely uncrushed. Cause for a little British chauvinism then: they may be bastards, but they are our bastards.

One important factor here is that new out-of-town big box development - of the type for which Walmart is famous - has been strictly regulated in an attempt to prevent the demise of the British High Street. While no stranger to the big box, Tesco has thrived by taking advantage of this with its Tesco Metro stores. The Guardian link goes into some of the effects of this.
posted by pascal at 5:26 PM on March 30, 2005

Loo roll?!
1. Strange English breakfast delicacy?
2. Particularly disgusting sex act?
3. Seventies' punk band?
posted by berek at 7:39 PM on March 30, 2005

Can I just ask what a "vertically targeted" blog is? Is there some common English, non-corporate-speak translation for this phrase? Currently, I'm picturing someone shooting arrows at the ceiling.
posted by Jimbob at 8:39 PM on March 30, 2005

"the retail juggernaut now accounts for one in every eight pounds spent in British shops."

If that's accurate, it's really quite impressive. And a bit scary.

*I don't shop in Tesco at all.*
posted by armoured-ant at 10:29 PM on March 30, 2005

... shooting arrows at the ceiling is a fair description of "vertically targeted" :) So would attacking a single source
posted by MrMerlot at 11:39 PM on March 30, 2005

berek writes " Loo roll?!
"1. Strange English breakfast delicacy?
"2. Particularly disgusting sex act?
"3. Seventies' punk band?"

No, roll for the loo. Duh.
posted by salmacis at 11:59 PM on March 30, 2005

Thanks for this - really interesting post. Hadn't seen the supermarket sweep up blog before - definitely going in the bookmarks. One alternative (organic, relatively locally sourced, good payments to farmers but won't save your local shop or market) is to go for one of the many delivered box schemes, but they've definitely got their own issues - this article seems to give a pretty balanced overview.
posted by chrispy at 12:54 AM on March 31, 2005

'one in every eight'

And Nestle own 10% of the European food market, AFAIK. That means one in every 10 euros that is spent on food in Europe.

Not that I shop at Tesco or buy Nestle products.
posted by asok at 6:32 AM on March 31, 2005

Tesco aren't evil, just very good at what they do. Noticeably better in most aspects than their competitors, in fact. The quality of food is generally good, the layout of stores is sensible and efficient, their logistics system is well-managed, the launch of their online grocery shopping service a few years ago was a real innovation; the whole process is easy and relatively stress-free.

The fact that they've earned the trust of so many consumers is what's enabled them to branch out into unrelated industries (finance, internet service provision, etc).

Of course, there are very legitimate complaints about the concept of supermarkets in general (not to mention about provision of services in rural areas, GM food, fair prices for farmers, etc), which should probably be addressed - but that has to be an issue for the legislators, not for the faceless corporations. Silly to just attack the company that plays the game the best.
posted by cell at 6:43 AM on March 31, 2005