Management at Tesco :: Business Management Studies

Management at Tesco Introduction 1920s Tesco was founded in 1924, when T.E. Stockwell, a partner in a firm of tea suppliers, and Sir Jack Cohen came together. Legend has it that Sir Jack Cohen used his gratuity from his Army service in the First World War to start selling groceries in London's East End markets in 1919. The brand name of Tesco came from the initials of T.E. Stockwell and first two letters of Cohen. The first Tesco store was opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, Edgware. 1930s Self-service supermarkets first opened in the USA in the 1930s, during the depression. They soon realized that by selling a wider variety and larger volume of stock, and employing fewer staff, they could offer lower prices to the public. The Tesco business prospered and grew in the years between the war. 1940s In 1947 Tesco Stores (Holdings) Ltd was floated on the Stock Exchange, with a share price of  £ 25. The price at the beginning of February 2002 was around  £ 2.42. Self-service stores came to Britain after the Second World War, and Jack Cohen opened the first Tesco self-service store in St Albans in 1948. 1950s In 1956 the first Tesco self-service supermarket was opened in a converted cinema in Maldon. 1960s By the early 1960s, Tesco had become a familiar name. As well as groceries, the stores sold fresh food, clothing and household goods. The Tesco store, which opened in Leicester in 1961, had 16,500 square feet of selling space and went into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest store in Europe. During this period, Tesco introduced trading stamps so that it could bring lower prices to its customers. Tesco introduced the concept of the superstore in 1967 when it opened a 90,000 square feet store in Westbury, Wiltshire. The 'superstore' was a new concept in retailing and the term was first used when Tesco opened its store in Crawley, West Sussex, in 1968. 1970s By 1970, Tesco was a household name, its reputation built on providing basic groceries at very competitive prices. But as people become better off, they looked for more expensive luxury items. In the late 1970s the company decided to make its stores more attractive to a wider range of customers. Tesco introduced more superstores, which sold a broader range of goods, and had wider aisles and better lighting. In one year, in the late 1970s, the Tesco market share increased from 7% to 12% and, in 1979, its annual turnover reached  £ 1 billion for the first time. 1980s During the 1980s, Tesco continued to build new superstores, opening its 100th in 1985. In 1987 it announced a  £ 500 million programme to