Tesco's to charge more than Waitrose? (Tesco)

Member Name: leighsady

Product:	Tesco
Date:	20/11/08 (200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low prices, excellent quality own brand products.

Disadvantages: Prices are creeping up, with some dramatic increases in some areas.

I used to hate Tesco's, I thought they were a bit like an alternative to a pound shop, cheap prices and low quality and brash environment. But over the past few years I have gradually changed my views. To say that there have been a lot of improvements is an understatement.

The prices
********
Tesco's are very well known to have low prices, well, at least lower than its competitors anyway - and sometimes ridiculously cheap, this its particularly true of one of their own brands - 'Tesco's Value' - a lot of their staple foods can be found at less than 30 p under this brand. Lately, and I think this may be due to the 'credit crunch', a lot of their prices have increased dramatically, not only by a little such a few pence, but a lot of the items I tend to buy have had an increase of a minimum of 20p. One such example is a pack of sunflower seeds I regularly buy - they were only 23p for a 100g pack and now they've gone up to 98p!...? Fortunately, not a lot of things have had this ridiculous increase, but still it all adds ups to extra pounds.

Quality
*****
I think this is the main and most important factor. Tecso's own branded ranges have expanded considerably and I feel more than half of Tesco's stock is Tesco's own brand. The quality is very close and similar to the famous leading brands, and if not, surprisingly, I am actually finding many of the products to perform better and with more functions and features.

The environment
*************
Personally, I don't find their shopping environment as nice as Sainsbury's or Waitrose, although the standard of cleanliness is much better than it used to be. The lighting is a lot brighter and harsher, and the interior is visually quite 'raw' e.g. electrical pipes and vent connections can all be seen etc. I suppose, this is just a small sacrifice to be enable such lower prices, something has to give...

Customer Service
**************
This is passable, for now. Maybe I've become used to it, but in the past it was pretty bad...many of the staff were very grumpy and rude. Many didn't know where things were, didn't have the patience, time or showed they just didn't care. To be fair, customer service has improved and they can be helpful and pleasant but there is still room for improvement.

On the whole Tesco's is a good place for groceries. The price are still very competitive, although if the price increases continue this is unlikely to remain so. Not exactly retail heaven but it's not bad, is it?




Thanks for reading. xx



©Leighsa 2008

Summary: The effects of the credit crunch can be felt here...