Tesco at a glance (More Tesco history further down the page)

Tesco is one of the world's leading international retailers. Since the company first used the trading name of Tesco, in the mid 1920s, the group has expanded into different formats, different markets and different sectors.

The principal activity of the group is food retailing, with over 2,000 stores worldwide.

Tesco has a long term strategy for growth, based on four key parts: growth in the Core UK business, to expand by growing internationally, to be as strong in non-food as in food and to follow customers into new retailing services.

Tesco employs over 360,000 people in its businesses around the world and aims to deliver a consistently strong customer offer on every visit and every transaction by focusing on the Group's core purpose: to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty.

This core purpose is delivered through the Tesco values: no-one tries harder for customers and treat people how we like to be treated.

Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty.

Our success depends on people. The people who shop with us and the people who work with us. If our customers like what we offer, they are more likely to come back and shop with us again.

If the Tesco team find what we do rewarding, they are more likely to go that extra mile to help our customers.

This is expressed as two key values: No-one tries harder for customers, and Treat people as we like to be treated. We regularly ask our customers and our staff what we can do to make shopping with us and working with us that little bit better.

Tesco - A more detailed history.....
(In reverse date order)

2000's

2005 – Tesco announces non-food store trial

2005 - Tesco announces annual profits of £2 billion

2005 - Tesco announces it will be appointing a Code Compliance Officer and invites its UK suppliers to provide anonymous feedback on working with Tesco

2004 – Tesco enters China

2004 – Tesco launches own-brand Fairtrade range

2004 – Tesco becomes the first supermarket to introduce Glycaemic index (Gi) labelling

2004 – Tesco Broadband is launched

2004 - Tesco.com becomes first major British supermarket to enter music download market

2003 – Tesco mobile phone is launched

2003 – Tesco enters Turkey

2003 - Tesco enters Japan

2003 - Tesco Home Phone is launched

2002 – Tesco launches its exclusive clothing brand ‘Cherokee’ into many of its UK stores

2001 – Tesco enters Malaysia

2002 - Tesco offers ‘Free-From’ products, designed for customers with special dietary needs

2002 – Tesco announces a partnership between Clubcard and AIRMILES

2001/02 – Tesco launches ‘Customer Champions’ in many stores and implements a new labour scheduler to further improve service for customers

2001 – Tesco becomes the leading organic retailer in the UK

2001 – Tesco announces a new strategic relationship with American supermarket Safeway Inc, to take the Tesco.com home shopping model to the US

2001 – Tesco reaches £1 billion price cuts in total

2001 – Florence + Fred clothing range is launched

2000 – Tesco.com is launched

1990's

1999 – Tesco enters South Korea

1999 – Tesco launches a new on-line bookstore and on-line banking

1999 – Mobile phones go on sale in Tesco stores

1999 – Clubcard Deals launched

1999 – Tesco publishes supermarket price comparisons on the internet

1999 – Tesco Personal Finance clocks up its one millionth customer

1998 – Tesco enters Taiwan and Thailand

1998 – Tesco launches its Finest range

1997 – Tesco opens its first Extra store in Pitsea, Essex

1996 – Tesco launches 24 hour trading

1997 – Launch of Clubcard point per pound

1997 – Tesco enters the Republic of Ireland

1997 – Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) is launched

1997 – Terry Leahy becomes Chief Executive of Tesco

1996 – First major price investment for customers

1996 – Belfast Metro opens – the first Tesco store in Northern Ireland

1996 – Tesco enters Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

1996 – Tesco introduces ‘Customer Assistants’ to make shopping even easier for customers

1995 – ‘Would I Buy It’ initiative is launched to ensure that products are always of the highest quality for customers

1995 – Tesco becomes the market-leading food retailer

1995 – Tesco enters Hungary

1995 – Tesco Clubcard is launched

1994 – The first Tesco Express opens

1994 – Tesco becomes the first retailer to offer customers a service commitment at the checkouts through ‘One in Front’

1993 – ‘First Class Service’ is launched

1993 – Tesco Value is launched

1992 – Tesco launches its Organic range

1992 – Computers for Schools is launched

1992 – The first Tesco Metro store opens at Covent Garden, London

1992 – ‘Every Little Helps’ is launched

1991 – Tesco becomes Britain’s biggest independent petrol retailer

1980's

1987 – Tesco announces a £500 million programme to build another 29 stores

1985 – Tesco becomes the first major retailer to emphasise the nutritional value of its own-brand, to customers, through the ‘Healthy Eating’ initiative

1983 – Tesco Stores (Holdings) Ltd becomes Tesco PLC

1982 - Annual sales exceed £2 billion

1982 – Computerised checkouts introduced into the first Tesco stores

1970's

1979 – Annual sales reach £1 billion

1977 – Tesco introduces a price–cutting campaign under the banner ‘Checkout at Tesco’

1974 – Tesco opens its first petrol stations at major sites

1960's

1968 – The term ‘superstore’ is used when Tesco opens its store in Crawley, West Sussex

1963 – Green shield stamps introduced

1961 – Tesco Leicester enters the Guinness Book of Records as the largest store in Europe

1960 – Tesco takes over a chain of 212 stores in the North of England and adds another 144 stores in 1964 and 1965

1956 – The first Tesco self-service supermarket opens in a converted cinema in Maldon

1947 – Tesco Stores (Holdings) Ltd floats on the Stock Exchange with a share price of 25p

1934 – Jack Cohen bought a plot of land at Angela Road, Edmonton, North London to build a new headquarters and warehouse. It was the first modern food warehouse in the country and introduced new ideas for central stock control

1932 – Tesco Stores Limited became a private limited company

1929 – Jack Cohen opens his first Tesco store in Burnt Oak, Edgware, North London

1924 – The first own-brand product sold by Jack was Tesco Tea – before the company was called Tesco. The name comes from the initials of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the firm of tea suppliers, and CO from Jack’s surname

1919 – Jack Cohen founded Tesco, when he began to sell surplus groceries from a stall in the East End of London. His first day’s profit was £1 and sales £4

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