WHO ARE THEY?

Tesco are simply the biggest grocery retailer in the UK, and by some margin. Unlike ASDA, Tesco is not just a chain of superstores or hypermarkets, they have now split their retail business into groups of shops of varying sizes:

Tesco Extra - a full size hypermarket carrying a full range of food, groceries and non-food goods.

Tesco - a traditional "supermarket" size store carrying food, groceries and some non-food products.

Tesco Metro - a compact store almost exclusively food and groceries. These are to be found in town centres or may be attached to garage forecourts in almost any location.

And now, Tesco's latest venture "Home Plus", entirely non-food retail stores.

Tesco are also expanding rapidly in Eastern Europe, Poland and Slovakia increasingly "enjoying" Tescos market dominance. From our experience they are far less popular out there as single handedly (it took a group of supermarkets in the UK to do it!) they are running all of the smaller native supermarkets out of business.

HOW MANY BRANCHES?

In the UK there are currently 1,780 stores, with a further 111 to open this year.

There are also stores in the Czech Republic (25 - 8 to open), Hungary (69 / 14), Poland (78 / 20), Eire, (87 / 6), Slovakia (30 / 6), Turkey (5 / 3), China - yes, really! (31 / 15), Japan (104 / 3), Malaysia (6 / 5), South Korea (38 / 31), Taiwan (5 / 1) and Thailand (107 / 83).

To save you doing the maths, worldwide that adds up to an impressive 2,365 stores already open, with a further 318 due to open before 2007!

It has a total world wide work force of 365,000 people.

HOW MANY VISITED?

My wife and I have visited very many branches of Tescos in all sorts of far flung locations in the UK as well as in Poland and Slovakia.

Our local TESCO EXTRA superstore is located in Shoreham adjacent to the A27 Brighton by-pass, at last count there were five other Tesco branches throughout Brighton and Hove.

In Brighton smaller Tesco stores (Metro) seem to be popping up just about everywhere, garages, ex-independent shops, even in Hove a large antique shop was taken over and converted into a Tesco store, within walking distance of that a new Tesco supermarket opened last year!

Other Tesco stores in the area which we visit on a regular basis include: Burgess Hill, Portslade, Horsham, Eastbourne and Durrington to the north west of Worthing.

Out and about in the country we have been to Tescos located in Barrow in Furness, Blackpool, Blackburn, Ryde on the Isle of Wight and many, many more besides.

In Poland we have used the main Krakow branch as well as one of their newest provincial stores, located in Mielec, my wife's home town.

In Slovakia we had a particularly memorable nosey around the Poprad branch - a place where alcohol was unbelievably cheap. Along with a litre bottle of Beefeater Gin for less than £7.00, I purchased a bottle of "Value Brand" Vodka for less than the equivalent of £1.00. My Polish father in law - having tasted it - refused to let us even try it, and tipped it down his sink before our very eyes!

Incidentally, with a slightly tongue in cheek review in mind, I did approach Tesco in Mielec at Christmas, requesting permission to take photographs in their store, for the purposes of a review - this is apparently strictly against company policy…..

……Such a pity, as in the entrance way they had cheap baths and toilets piled up at the time!

In short, in terms of retailing at least, Tesco really are taking over the world!....Well Slovakia at least…….

……We crossed the Tatra mountain border from Poland into Slovakia to descend the other side, maybe 15 kilometres to a main road "T" junction. There was only one sign post on this junction, an old fashioned English style finger post. It pointed left; "Tesco 65km" and to the right; Tesco 45km. There was no mention of any town nor indeed a road number. Naturally we chose Tesco 45km right!

WHAT DO THEY SELL? 5 / 10

When you examine the range of goods and departments in ASDA, Tesco actually starts to look rather disappointing.

On the whole their range of electrical goods, CDs and gardening bits and pieces is far less impressive than ASDA's.

On the other hand many other sections like soaps, shampoos and particularly the alcohol departments carry a much greater choice of products. Certainly Tesco is the place that I purchase bargain wines from on occasion, usually finding very good half priced offers.

As with ASDA there is now a big push on financial services. As supermarkets go, Tesco seem to be the market leader in telephone and internet services too - both fixed line and mobile telecommunications.

Dig a little deeper though and popular ASDA departments are actually missing in Tesco, there is no optician or pharmacy in our large Tesco store, nor, apart from a rotisserie do they offer exotic take away food. You can however leave your photographs for developing in store whilst you shop.

QUALITY & FRESHNESS OF PRODUCE 8 / 10

No real complaints here. My main priority when food shopping is that the food is as fresh as possible and of good quality. Tesco rarely let us down. I can only remember taking back oranges and potatoes, of all things, for a refund.

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE: 5 / 10

I can only award Tesco 50% of the ASDA mark here as they will, without any argument, give you 100% of your money back. ASDA as you probably know will actually double this!

We always take back unsatisfactory produce. However on the couple of occasions that this has been done, I have found the Tesco return rather unsatisfactory. Money is passed over without complaint, but my concerns about the product, or reason for taking it back, never seem to be investigated. Neither is any form of apology offered for the sub-standard product. ASDA is altogether nicer to deal with on this score.

AVAILABILITY OF STOCK ON SHELVES 2 / 10

This is a bit of an unfair one really as it is dependant on so many factors from the day of the week / time of day to the season of the year.

However, it was Tesco that I specifically had in mind when I dreamed up this particular category. The most frustrating thing in the world is that this huge Extra store of ours so often fails to have in stock the items that we have on our shopping list. Worse, unlike certain other supermarkets, Waitrose in particular, is that if an item is missing, no substitute for it can be found in the same store.

Just as annoying is what I call "the Boots" (Chemist) ploy of just when you are used to buying a certain item - and enjoy eating / using it, it disappears, never to return to the shelves. This is another sin of which I find Tesco regularly guilty.

OWN BRAND QUALITY? 6 / 10

Arguably one up on ASDA here. Tesco now have several "own brand" ranges, even the "Value Brand" ones, Slovakian Vodka not withstanding, have proved perfectly adequate.

FAIR TRADE PRODUCE RANGE? 7 / 10

Not being regular Co-Op shoppers, it was in Tesco that we first became aware of Fair Trade products, particularly the bananas, coffee and tea which we have been using for a couple of years now.

Whilst the Co-Op has to take the most credit, I certainly am not going to knock Tesco for being in there early in this market and for carrying an increasingly large range of both Fair Trade and organic produce.

ANY "LABELS"? 6 / 10

Well we have already gone into the Value Brand label at the lower end of the price spectrum; at the opposite end of the range are the Tesco "Finest" products. This range seems to have grown ever wider and now duplicates almost every food and beverage product on the shelves. In some cases there is a notable step up in quality, in others frankly it just seems an excuse to charge a premium price for very little.

As far as the clothes go, in terms of image and labels, Tesco is certainly well behind ASDA's incredibly successful "George" label. Florence and Fred appears to be the major adult label here, but as far as the clothing side goes, there is little clear image or identity about Tescos rather eclectic collection. The children's and teen range carry the Cherokee label, which has been around, without making much impact, for over three decades.

HOW ABOUT THE TROLLEYS? 7 / 10

A vast improvement will be experienced if you are used to piloting a wonky ASDA trolley about during your weekly shop. The actual choice of trolleys is similar, a full size supermarket trolley, a half size "high level" one plus the usual hand basket.

THE CHECK OUT QUEUES! 3 /10

From our own experience Tesco is the most frustratingly unpredictable place to shop on this score. You just never know how long it will take you to pay for your shopping in our store.

As you will read in my "anecdote" section, I have personal issues with the manager of our local Tesco, suffice to say in this section that the staffing level at the tills is simply never right.

Tesco quietly dropped their advertising slogan "one in front and we'll open the next till", it used to work well in practice. Now we have gone back to the dark ages with long queues and many un-manned check outs. Or on many occasions we have seen dozens of manned check outs and very few customers to go through them.

THE CARRIER BAGS 9 / 10

No throw away supermarket carrier bag is a good thing as it is quite possible, by the use of reusable shopping bags to cut this wastage out altogether. However, Tesco carrier bags are definitely fit for the purpose, meaning in practice that you can use fewer of them than in ASDA for the same amount of shopping.

Just prior to publication we visited Tesco and at the checkout were about to purchase three "shopping bags for life" - 5p each, replaced free when they wear out, when my wife noticed hanging at the side good, substantial and attractive re-usable shopping bags - we bought two of these at 75p each instead!

On the strength of this I have upgraded the carrier bag score from 6 / 10 to a well deserved 9 /10.

SHOP AMBIANCE: 4 / 10

In my opinion, the average Tesco shop, of whichever size, has no more ambiance about it than an ASDA store. The only thing that I will say in Tescos favour is that they do not employ an annoying "greeter" who stands in the doorway spouting on about 'special offers at the end of isle 12'!

On the other hand, I have to criticise the overall shop layout, especially of the clothes and homewares sections. Generally these seem to be poorly displayed and, unlike ASDA they are not properly "sectioned" from the main food store. The clothing isles are a particular scrum with nowhere near enough space to push a trolley, the rails are often over-stocked with clothes too. These factors give this area of the store a very low-rent "bargain bucket" feel to them.

What they have now provided in our main Extra superstore at Holmbush Retail Park (Shoreham) is flat screen televisions over most of the isles. I rarely watch TV at home, but for some reason find these frightfully distracting as we tramp the isles in search of all those items missing from the shelves.

At least in an English Tesco you avoid that wonderfully distinctive smell of car tyres ever present in Eastern European stores. Yes folks at the end of the fruit and veg isles in a Polish Tesco you will find a pile of car tyres for sale!

THE STAFF 5 / 10

Just as at ASDA, here in Tesco you will find good and bad alike. Oddly they seem to be split according to section. With one or two notable exceptions I have found the check-out staff at Tesco to be rather less chatty and pleasant than in ASDA, whilst the general floor staff (shelf stackers etc) are a much more helpful and friendly bunch. They also appear, on the whole to enjoy their work more than the shelf filling "colleagues" at ASDA.

WHO ACTUALLY SHOPS THERE?

In this case this is a difficult one. Tesco, as far as food retailing at least, seems to have developed an enviably "classless" image. By keeping the prices of basic dietary requirements highly competitive, whilst improving the quality of nearly all of their produce, Tesco have managed to adapt their appeal as all things to all men. That, ultimately, I think has to be THE key component to their runaway success.

My "car park class test" backs up this theory. I have never seen a Bentley Continental GT in ASDA's car park, in Tesco I've parked next to one! Yes there are old bangers here too, but everything in between also.

SNOB RATING: 5 / 10

No surprise here really, but a tremendous achievement by Tesco over the last 25 years all the same. My mother would never have dreamed of shopping in Tesco due to its low rent image 30 years ago. It had more slob than snob value in those days. Now as already mentioned it is truly a classless shop!

N.B. This rate does not count on the overall total!

VALUE FOR MONEY RATING: 7 / 10

Tesco may not share my opinion but a weekly shop will cost you more in Tesco than ASDA or possibly Morrisons, but less than in Sainsburys, Waitrose or Marks and Spencer. The quality of that shopping will directly reflect that particular cost comparison. By and large then I would have to rate Tesco as offering overall, good value for money.

We did do a little experiment this afternoon, spotting the "Up to 75% Off Clothing" banner as we drove onto the car park, Mrs R looked through all the clothes rails, 50% was the biggest discount that we could actually find.

INTERNET SHOP FROM YOUR PC and HOME DELIVERY: 9 / 10

I have it on very good authority from my accountant, no less, who has used the Tesco home delivery service for many years now that their home shopping service simply works. She tells me that it is on time, every time, and that my worries about this type of shopping, i.e. that they are sending out the produce that nobody wants to buy in the store, is completely groundless.

Mrs R and I are not likely to be exploring the world of internet grocery shopping, when it comes to food we both prefer to see the goods before we buy.

MY TESCO ANECDOTE: (0 / 10) - Come on we could have been burned alive!

….one day at Tesco's Shoreham store, some time ago, my wife and I were quite innocently going about our shopping when alarm bells started sounding. We were located at the back of the store in the dairy isle at the time. It was 3.00pm on a Saturday, the store was packed with shoppers.

The staff initially completely ignored the very loud alarm, I actually had to ask one of them nearby what it was and was informed that it was the fire alarm! Oh thanks. No instructions as to what to do with our shopping or which exit to leave from, the staff put down what they were doing and left through the staff door at the back of the store leaving we customers to fend for ourselves.

There was no announcement over the public address system at any time before or during the evacuation either.

We went to the front of the store to find ourselves at the back of a huge melee of shoppers who were attempting to exit onto the front car park through a very narrow fire door.

The large double sized electric doors, through which the whole store could have evacuated quickly and safely, were firmly locked. Being right at the back of the now concerned throng of customers, I attempted to force open the obvious exit point - the large sliding electric doors. In hindsight I now wish that I had found something heavy, like a fire extinguisher, to break through them with.

It took over twenty minutes to evacuate that store. There was no fire, but had there have been, I am convinced that my wife and I would not have survived it.

A couple of years prior to this incident, one night the then newly built Sainsburys superstore in Chichester had been rapidly destroyed in a blaze which spread with fearsome speed through the roof-space. I am sure that I was not the only "local" in Tesco that afternoon who had the thought of that blaze going through his head either.

We received no guidance from the staff - who ensured that they were first to leave the building, and only when everyone was out did the duty manager locate the key for the electric doors and THEN open them to allow shoppers back into the building!

I was absolutely fuming! Another shopper outside told us that he had actually written to Tescos head office and the store manager here about this locked exit point, pointing out the potential disaster, should they need to evacuate the store in an emergency. I was literally too angry to speak to the manager at this point in time and returned home to immediately write to both the store manager and the County's Chief Fire officer.

I received letters in reply from both - the manager reported that the building had been completely evacuated in 13 minutes, which he stated was, well within the permitted time for such an evacuation. He also denied that his staff had been the first to leave the building. When my wife and I finally exited the store, the staff were on the other side of the car park partaking in what looked like a roll call! Neither he, nor the Chief Fire Officer apparently saw any danger in the largest and most obvious exit point from the store remaining permanently locked.

The replying letter from the manager said that these doors were kept locked due to previous incidences of theft from the alcohol department.

That Tesco put their huge profits ahead of any consideration of safety for their customers I find abhorrent.

To this day I smell a rat over all of this, the irony of the fact that the local fire station is within sight of this store was not lost on us either.

LOYALTY CARD

Oh yes, the Tesco Club Card, a legend in its own time! On a quarterly basis you will be sent a money voucher according to how much you have spent in store - along with various bonus Club Card points for selected items over the coming months. Due to the events described above we spend as little time and money in Tesco as we can these days, I do not get a lot of money refunded by Tesco!

CONCLUSION

My opinion of Tesco took a real knock that Saturday afternoon, there is no doubt about that. The managers response to my letter I found even more upsetting. On the other hand, to be entirely fair, I have no evidence that such an evacuation would have been handled any differently in any other supermarket.

Judging Tesco purely in the terms of a consumer review, I have to say that by and large they offer good value for money and are successful at what they do, as witnessed by their position as the most successful supermarket chain in the country.

However, personally speaking my wife and I agree that due to the improvements made by ASDA, generally we find that our entire weekly shop can be achieved there in "one hit". This rarely seems to be the case in Tesco as there always seem to be several items not available that are on our list. This forces us to drive elsewhere to source these items, therefore destroying any value for money argument as there is a direct increase in cost in terms of time used and travel costs.

It may be that we are unlucky in having a vast, yet poorly managed, Tesco Extra as our local store which has somewhat "tainted" this whole review. I do have a feeling that Tesco should have come out of it better than this, but this is my personal review and fortunately in our particular location we have a broad range of supermarkets from which to choose.

Do we want to see Tesco take over the world in terms of grocery shopping? I certainly hope not!

OVERALL RATING:

TESCO: 83.0 / 150 (55.3%)

MORRISONS: 87.0 / 150 (58.0%)

ASDA: 84.5 / 150 (56.3%)

I have actually been asked what the "pass mark" is. Fair enough question I suppose, but with percentage scores coming in at around the mid 50's, I would have to conclude that there is plenty of room for improvement all around.

That or, as a consumer, I really am rather indifferent to supermarkets!

(Morrisons to follow)