Every little helps in Tesco share dealings

Tesco share dealing - a case of perception over reality

Tesco is one of Britain's most successful companies. Started by a very enterprising man, Jack Cohen. He might have been a good fit as an early Apprentice boss if the show had been on when he was around. I well remember him discussing, quite openly, his tricks of the trade. " I stack salad cream in the baskets at the end of the rows, then stick some more in the shelves. Both lots, same price. You know, the basket ones go much quicker. People see it as a bargain in a basket, see." I put that down to good marketing. No wonder Tesco did well.

Perception is a much stronger thing that fact. My perception of Jack Cohen was based on those little nuggets. I never met him or knew much about him. But he came across on the television as a canny operator trying to give his customers what they wanted, whilst always growing the business successfully. Today's Tesco bosses are a different breed. Not much is known of them and they appear camera shy. The exact opposite is the case with Justin King at Sainsbury's. He pops up telling all and sundry about his company, in a way that engages the viewer. He's appeared on Question Time and done other TV stuff. He could have a TV career after Sainsbury's, I imagine.

Today we hear that Tesco is defending a sale of shares by its chief operating officer, Bob Robbins. Bob has done nothing wrong, but perception is all that really matters here. Did it not cross his mind to think that by selling shares just before the sales results were announced things would look bad? Even if he had not been privy to "insider" information, surely he must have had an inkling that Christmas was a bit of a turkey as far as sales were concerned? This is where the modern day director lives in a world apart. Perception is what gives the gossips ammunition. Chatting down the pub, in the office, between friends. Bob Robbins can't be a fool or he would not be chief operating officer. Maybe for his own good he needs a quick lesson in perception.

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Tesco ban on shoppers in pyjamas

Tesco have a store in St. Mellons, Cardiff and the manager has spotted some inappropriately dressed customers in there. A sign has gone up saying, "Footwear must be worn at all times and no nightwear is permitted." Nightwear? I thought to myself who would go in there in nightwear? Apparently some do. Elaine Carmody is a Tesco customer and she says, "I think it's stupid really not being allowed in the supermarket with pyjamas on. It's not as if they're going to fall down or anything like that." Well, if I went in there Elaine mine might just do that. The elastic is a bit dodgy.

Anyway, why all the fuss. Tesco have a right to say who or what comes into a store of theirs. I'd like them to go a stage further and stop skimpily clad young women walking about. Some have the most ill-fitting garments on and it's very off-putting getting a glimpse of large breasts as you peruse the merchandise.

St. Mellons, eh?

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Tesco tops the till takers!

Tesco is now the unstoppable king of the retailers. There is no other like it in the UK. Fast becoming a one-stop shop (they actually own One Stop convenience stores!), they are keen for you to buy all your daily/weekly shopping with them. Some complain that Tesco is now too big, but a large part of that "bigness" is us going to shop with them. There seems to be a new split-personality complex infecting shoppers. It is well known in politicians and corporate types. Now the purchasing public is getting a dose.

When Woolworths went bust the TV news channels were full of people saying how sad they were, what a terrible blow it all was to the high streets of Britain. But when asked when they last shopped at Woolworths, their memories needed shock therapy. We can be terribly hypocritcal about what we want and don't want.

Tesco can't be blamed for running a succesful business and it shouldn't be. We do have choice and there are plenty of stores offering it. I certainly do not buy everything at one place. I go to Tesco, but I do not go solely to them. For instance, I find it far more agreeable to buy milk at an Asian store where it is almost half the supermarket price! I tell myself I'd be a fool not to.

One thing about supermarkets is the complexity of the "offer" as it is now known. Prices are not going to be the lowest all over in Tesco otherwise the profit margins would be compromised. However, pricing is very up and down, changing on a weekly basis. Customers require mental arithmetic and visual dexterity of a high degree. It was all very different when Jack Cohen, Tesco's founder, started out. I well remember him appearing in a TV programme about supermarkets. Ever the showman-meets-market-trader, he proudly explained his marketing techniques. He came to the end of an aisle, explained to the reporter, "See here, I've got Heinz salad cream in a basket. It's all put in like it's going cheap. Just put in. People think it's a bargain, cos it's not stacked or anything. Then I put some more on the shelves further down, all neat and tidy. Both at the same price, mind. And you know what? The "bargain" ones go first!"

With a founder like Jack Cohen, Tesco was bound to succeed. He knew there were enough of "us" to prove him right!

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Blog wanderings

I've seen that Wonko has a posting on Tesco's "English" sales. It never ceases to amaze how these "corporates" think that the English flag is racist or in any way likely to cause offence. Wonko spotted the honey so I suppose it is a sweet success! Woops....

It is on Rowse honey and not on own labels. That's the proving point...own labels! Well done Wonko. Keep RIGHT on!

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Politically correct nonsense!

Two pensioners from Essex were left stunned when they were asked to show photo identification to buy a bottle of wine. Where? At a One Stop store.

The madness of it all. Tesco owns One Stop. A spokesperson for the store said, "We take the sale of alcohol to underage people extremely seriously." They should have added, "and we are extremely stupid!"

If Tesco thinks that defending such nonsense, asking pensioners for ID for age purposes, makes any sense, then they should leave this planet and go and set up shop on Mars!

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Innocent customer dragged from his bed at 3 am!

Another story in the "if you've nothing to hide, what have you to fear" department. Quite a lot! In this case, a man went to Tesco to do some shopping but the myopic security guards took his car registration and gave it to the police. Why? Because some thief had stolen a plasma screen TV ( a feat in itself!) and managed to walk past the guards. In a totally separate incident, a woman claimed that this man, Simon Brasch, who works for a hospice charity, had scratched her car. One thing led to twenty-four and later, at 3 am, Mr.Brasch was dragged from his bed after the bizarre mix-up following his visit to the supermarket eight hours earlier.

“I felt humiliated and degraded, I felt like a criminal. I was left to languish in a prison cell, my individual rights were completely put aside for a plasma TV,” he said yesterday. “I told them, ‘I have got a full-time job, I’m a database manager for a national charity, I manage a library. This is ridiculous, you’ll see a big mistake has taken place’. It was the worst night of my life.”

Two questions. Are the security staff at Tesco so poorly trained that they can't ask simple questions? Are the police so poorly trained that they can't ask simple questions? It's an outrage that people are treated in this way. TEN HOURS in a police cell! What is it? All the mounting paperwork that the police have to fill in. "Sorry Mr.Brasch, this'll take at least ten hours to sort out. We're up to our eyeballs in bumpf!"

The trouble today is that all customers are seen as potential shoplifters, all accidents are seen as potential criminal investigations. Common sense and civility have left the brains of "management". We are all likely to end up in a police cell like Mr.Brasch. There isn't anyone of us who isn't.

As The Times reports, the thief and TV are still missing.

Is this the Britain we want?

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Lifestyle Choices

They say parking attendants can be bolshie buggers at the best of times. But then there are those who park in very improper places, so it probably needs a person with the patience of a saint to patrol the streets and car parks checking that all is in order. The only thing I think is missing from the parking enforcement "industry" is common sense.

In Leicester, a certain Laura Howard, heavily pregnant with child, decided to go to her local Tesco. She parked in a baby and child bay. She thought this was OK. Not so. She got a £90 penalty for it. When she complained to Tesco, they were sympathetic but took the Pontius Pilate route to problem solving. They advised her that all parking matters were handled by Safe Park UK, who lease the land from Tesco. Enter Brian Walker, operations manager for Safe Park UK. When Ms Howard contacted this company he was mindful to say "There are signs saying that if you park here and you don't have a child then you will be fined and this lady did not have a child. Pregnancy is not a disability. It is a lifestyle choice and these bays are aimed at being wider for buggies." He went on about the law and such.

Well, Mr. Walker, I suggest you get a grip and show a little compassion and common sense next time. You were the the result of your own mother's "lifestyle choice". Hope you weren't a big baby!

Tesco have done the decent thing and paid the fine. However, Mr. Walker is sticking to his method's of motherhood control.

Which makes me think what sort of innkeeper Brian Walker would have made on the first Christmas Night. "Sorry, there's no room at the inn. Pregnancy is a lifestyle choice, you know."

Do times change?

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