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
1950's - 1920's
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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