Tesco: A Timeline of Key Events

Executive Summary

As part of our Retailers’ Timelines series, we examine key events in Tesco’s recent history.

• To bolster its Asian business, Tesco plans to open 750 convenience stores in Thailand during the period 2019-21.
• In line with its sustainability drive, by December 2019, Tesco plans to end the use of hard-to-recycle materials used for private-label packaging.
• From 2017 to 2019, we saw Tesco divesting non-core assets and closing down unprofitable stores in an effort to reduce costs and refocus on its domestic business.
• In FY19, Tesco eliminated a number of household brands and relaunched 10,000 private-label products in its stores in the UK in order to improve efficiency and compete with low-cost rivals. The company also slashed a number of suppliers to simplify its supply chain structure.
• As part of its digital transformation plans, Tesco teamed up with Starship Technologies in 2017 to develop a grocery delivery service using six-wheeled robots, an app for which was launched in 2019 to customers in Milton Keynes.
• To strengthen its omnichannel capabilities, Tesco launched a same-day grocery click-and-collect service in 2016 that allows customers to collect grocery orders in-store within three hours.

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