It must have been four months since this window was broken in the Tesco Express on Pentonville Road, North London and I simply cannot believe that it has not been fixed. This is the sort of lack of focus that independent shops usually get criticised for. The only purpose in sharing this image is to encourage those independents with high standards who are finding the going tough that they can do better than this.
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raj s
12/02/2011
This doesn’t surprise me, Tesco Express are franchises and there is real inconsistency, there isn’t the passion that symbol group independents have for winning and keeping customers
Nick Shanagher
14/02/2011
Hi Raj, Thanks for the feedback. Tesco Express are directly run by the company and are not franchises. Strategically, they are very important to Tesco’s current strategy as they seem to believe more people will be shopping locally in the future and they are trying to dominate this market, even while they cannibalise sales from their bigger stores. Also, since I posted, they have repaired the window. A coincidence, I reckon.
Your point about passion giving you a competitive advantage is correct and it may be worth thinking how to express that with greater precision. I would recommend reading Creating Competitive Advantage, a book that I will blog about shortly.
Nick Shanagher
15/02/2011
It must have been raining heavily when I went past last Friday. The window has not been repaired. There are lots of anecdotes doing the rounds about Tesco keeping costs to a minimum and perhaps betterRetailing users can describe how strong the local stores are doing in their areas so we can build up a picture!
Steve
18/02/2011
Nick, how about using the weekly betterRetailing email to ask this question and see who wants to engage? I think that retailers who are having a tough time will be more prepared to reveal their challenge than doing it in public view.
Steve
Nick Shanagher
21/02/2011
Good idea, Steve, I will put it to Michael for inclusion.