Sales gloom as Tesco reveals its worst Christmas for decades

January 8th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

By
Neil Craven

Last updated at 12:04 AM on 8th January 2012

Tesco is this week set to announce its worst Christmas performance for decades.

The supermarket giant, which accounts for £1 in every £7 spent in the shops, is expected to say sales over the past six weeks worsened despite the launch of a major price-cutting initiative less than four months ago.

Broker JP Morgan Cazenove has forecast a 1.5 per cent drop in sales from the chain’s British stores that have been open for at least a year. That marks a sharp deterioration compared with the Christmas period a year ago.

Dismal: Supermarket giant Tesco is set to announce its worse Christmas trade in decades

Tesco’s share of food spending fell to 28.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to December 24, down from 29.3 per cent in the same period a year ago, said market researcher Nielsen.

Meanwhile, Asda increased its market share from 16.7 per cent to 17.1 per cent, while Sainsbury’s and Morrisons maintained theirs.

Tesco’s performance comes amid reports that senior executives disagreed over its Big Price Drop promotion, launched in September.

A major cost-cutting initiative was launched four months ago but it didn't help

A major cost-cutting initiative was launched four months ago but it didn’t help

Sources told The Mail on Sunday that group chief executive Philip Clarke, who took over last year, has stopped short of cutting prices to a level that would hurt profitability. Last year, profits hit a record £3.8 billion. That figure is expected to increase again in the year to April, boosted by growth in Tesco’s international divisions.

However, the sales decline and the erosion of market share in Britain may force Mr Clarke to reconsider his strategy.

The Big Price Drop, which promised cuts of £500 million, has been dubbed the ‘Big Price Flop’ by critics.

City analysts have raised concerns that Tesco may be running out of room to expand in Britain.

It is also the supermarket group most dependent on sales of non-grocery items such as clothing and home furnishings, which hard-up consumers have cut back on during the economic crisis.

In a price war, Sainsbury’s has begun issuing money-back coupons at the tills when its systems detect that competitor prices are lower, while Asda previously guaranteed to undercut rivals by ten per cent.

Clive Black, an analyst at stockbroker Shore Capital, said of this week’s trading statements: ‘We expect Tesco to be the industry laggard.’

A number of other top High Street chains are also believed to have suffered over Christmas.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

Newest
Oldest
Best rated
Worst rated

Oh and I should add, I’m not just doing this as an anti- Tesco thing. I would have spent nearly 400 quid with them on the 27th and again on January 4 , but I went to Morrisons because they were shut on Boxing Day. Sainsbury’s similarly responded that they were open because the market demanded it.

– Jim, UK, 08/1/2012 06:05

WHEN IS A PRICE CUT NOT A PRICE CUT …………WHEN ITS A TESCO PRICE CUT

– preed, newton aycliffe, 08/1/2012 06:03

Lots of people have woken up to the fact we do not need all the food we buy at Christmas, in the past i have ended up throwing stuff out. Any way Tescos we did not need to stock pile you were only closed for ONE day so we wasn’t exactly going to starve in that time.

– she,, somewhere, 08/1/2012 05:59

Tesco is just disgusting. I am as capitalist as they come yet this just disgusts me. I sent an email complaining that Tesco was open Boxing Day and they dismissed it saying their employees got extra pay and had since December 1 to plan their family celebrations around working Boxig Day. This is ridiculous as it missed the point entirely, which is that they are non essential workers who SHOULD NOT have to plan their Christmas around working Boxing Day. I also complained that their stores fly corporate flags but not the union flag and the customer service rep asked which store because he was unaware this happened. You have to be kidding me, I’ve never seen any Tesco fly the union flag! I urge everyone to boycott shops who are cutting into Christmas by opening on Boxing Day. I now shop at Waitrose or Morrisons. Plus Morrisons had much better Christmas adverts.

– Jim, UK, 08/1/2012 05:56

Being unable to do my own shopping since last November, I having been using internet grocery shopping. I migrated to Sainsburys over the Christmas period since I wanted fresh quality vegetables which would last me from a Wed. delivery prior to to Christmas Day and again a Wed. delivery prior to NY Day (cheapest delivery rates), which they did. I had discovered, using Tescos that their ‘fresh stuff’ isn’t that fresh with cucumbers going off after a day, old lettuce and other veg. Much of Tescos stuff has to be eaten the next day and you cannot eat a whole shop in just two days. They merely send you anything they want to get rid off, all this ‘we send you the freshest’ is a load of b****. You even have to watch the dates on some of their canned stuff, canned fish usually has a long date but I am currently using up canned stuff, out of date, which I only received in October, I guess they buy up unsold canned stuff cheap from manufacturers and flog if off as a special offer to us.

– A Bystander, On the sidelines, uk, 08/1/2012 05:51

Oh no. Can someone start a ‘Save Tescos huge profit’ Charity?

– Percy Pelican, Londinium, 08/1/2012 05:50

I went to local butchers for fillet steak and they only had sirloin and went to greengrocers next door for avocados and they didn’t sell them. Went to tesco who sold both. Aberdeen Angus fillet steak and avocados in great supply at great prices. I’ve stopped using local butchers and greengrocers now due to them never having the stuff I want. No problem with tesco at all. Don’t really care about their profit etc though.

– katie, Cheshire, 08/1/2012 05:39

GOOD!

– boosmum, merseyside, 08/1/2012 05:26

its over , their demise has begun

– stephen, belfast, 08/1/2012 05:12

Tesco, more than any other supermarket chain by miles, has been responsible for driving small businesses out of our high streets up and down the country. The more Tesco loses, the happier I’ll be.
– Independent Brit, Baldock, 8/1/2012 1:57
——————–You may be right, but if it hadn’t been Tesco it would have been one of the others; which one is irrelevant really – just whichever is the biggest.

– Wendy, Nottingham, 08/1/2012 05:09

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.