Tesco Case

We were given a new case to analyze: yes, it is the Tesco Case!

As many of you may know, Tesco is an english "super" super market where nowadays you can buy from milk to movies, not to mention the opportunity to get a loan when you consider how to pay all the stuff your wife just bought! (Carrefour, I am waiting for your offer!).

The brief assignment required by our professor consists of defining what we think of the competitive IT advantage generated by Tesco.

From what I read, I think Tesco has based its IT-generated competitive advantage by being the first one to take advantage of the possibilities that technology creates for the business. The company has been highly innovative since the beginning of its story and took the right direction by acquiring advances in technology to increase its knowledge of customers habits and preferences. Investments in technology and, from there, marketing were hugh but they clearly payed off.

However, Tesco not only focused its efforts on strengthening its supermarkets sales through the famous Club Card but also clearly diversify its business to different services such as finance, insurance, traveling, and mobile phones! Tesco provides a large array of online uses for customers apart from shopping online such as trading shares, compare its prices with those of competitors, and more...and everything is easy to find in its website.

Another issue Tesco took advantage of was its location. Tesco has mainly focused its commercial activities in the UK, though in the middle 90s it started to expand internationally (mainly to Eastern Europe countries and Asia). That concentration allowed it to focus its efforts on increasing market share in the UK market. Tesco was able to use technology to research its market and customer successfully. And the customers help: it would be very different to get all the customer information and online interaction with them in a different market, one less used to deal with through the internet. In addition, the responsible use of data by Tesco allowed the company to continue innovating and get acceptance of new online "products" by its clients.