Tescopoly: How One Shop Came Out on Top and Why It Matters - Andrew Simms

I was rather amused and surprised to see that Andrew Simm's "Tescopoly: How one shop came out on top and why it matters" can be bought through the Tesco website; the book is a well-researched account of how Tesco has been able to gain such a dominant position in the UK retail sector and the effect that the growth in power of a few retailers combined with a system that allows then to go virtually unchecked has had on our local communities.
...not the only supermarket guilty of some of the accusations he levels against the company though it quickly becomes apparent that Simms finds Tesco particularly abhorrent. It's important to know, however, that Andrew Simms works for a left-wing think tank and is a tireless campaigner on subjects such as global poverty, environmentalism and globalisation.

Simms's basic premise is that the increasing dominance of a few companies is bad ... more

I was rather amused and surprised to see that Andrew Simm's "Tescopoly: How one shop came out on top and why it matters" can be bought through the Tesco website; the book is a well-researched account of how Tesco has been able to gain such a dominant position in the UK retail sector and the effect that the growth in power of a few retailers combined with a system that allows then to go virtually unchecked has had on our local communities.

Early on Simms says that Tesco is not the only supermarket guilty of some of the accusations he levels against the company though it quickly becomes apparent that Simms finds Tesco particularly abhorrent. It's important to know, however, that Andrew Simms works for a left-wing think tank and is a tireless campaigner on subjects such as global poverty, environmentalism and globalisation.

Simms's basic premise is that the increasing dominance of a few companies is bad for both our local communities and the economy in general. Over eleven chapters he makes some pretty compelling arguments and cites some eye-opening examples of how the leading supermarkets have changed our towns and how we shop, and how the government and the law have been almost powerless in imposing checks and balances.

In the opening chapter "Identity Theft" Simms describes an experiment in which ten consumers were asked to try to live without supermarkets for a month. One struggled and said she had "broken down" and bought a few small items such as milk and bread although she did say that she felt she hadn't thrown out as much food as she would normally. Another said she enjoyed "spreading her money around" and that she had eaten more healthily as a result of not going to the supermarket. Yet another living in London bought food from a local Turkish shop; she said that although some items such as toiletries were more expensive locally she balanced the cost out by walking to the shops instead of driving. She said she bought what she needed instead of being "wooed" by supermarket "special offers".

He shows just how much Tesco want to be part of your life: you can buy all your groceries there, you can buy books and papers there, pick up a prescription, furnish your home - you might even have bought it with a Tesco mortgage or you can buy a Tesco-built house. You can book a holiday with Tesco then phone or e-mail your pals to tell them all about it - courtesy of Tesco mobile and internet of course. Then you can buy some holiday insurance (pet insurance too) and if you fall out on holiday - so many couples do - Tesco can provide the legal help for you to divorce.

In "Any shop you like", Simms describes how Tesco has gone from market stall to the most dominant UK retailer. If you think Tesco is doing well now, you need to know that by the time its current programme of expansion is complete it is likely to be taking one Pound of every four spent in UK retailers.

He shows how Tesco have used the "loyalty card" to increase their market share and to gain dominance in sectors previously enjoyed by other chains. The most interesting example is how Tesco stole away the lucrative "baby market" from Boots by setting up it's "Baby Club"; bombarding its members with "special offers" and reminding mothers how daunting and torturous shopping with a baby could be in order to make them feel like Tesco understood them. Simms points out that in the most paranoid days of the former East Germany the secret police held files on over 16 million citizens; there are over 25 million Tesco Clubcards in existence. Tesco know what you bought, and when you bought it; they also know what you don't buy there and use that information to get you to buy those things there instead.

In "Land, Money and Goods - and how to get them" Simms discusses how Tesco buy up land to prevent competitors using it, and how they manage to by-pass planning regulations in order to build bigger stores, often in places where the locals don't even want them. Tesco has more money than your local council to spend on fighting court cases. What council would want to let its residents see them spend thousands fighting Tesco when there are schools in need of repair or old people who need homecare?

One section is an interesting look at a report by the Competition Commission that looked at some of the charges levels against Tesco by suppliers. Do you like to shop at Tesco because of the low prices? Think "Every Little Helps"? The report found that Tesco often requested payment from suppliers as condition of stocking and displaying their goods - Tesco confirmed this was true. The report also said that Tesco sought discount from suppliers retrospectively - that is AFTER a price had already been agreed - another claim that Tesco confirmed was true. They even instructed "intermediaries" - companies such as packing houses - not to handle good intended for delivery to other retailers "where those goods originated from producers with which Tesco had ceased trading" - again confirmed as true by Tesco. Members of the National Farmers Union even reported that some suppliers were instructed to pay the difference when a retailer failed to meet its profit target.

Remember the famous "£3 jeans" from Tesco ? How can Tesco make a profit from that item? Someone is losing out and you can bet that it's the supplier, the sewing machinist, the fabric producer, anyone but Tesco. Simms also reminds us that we should discount Tesco's claims to be benefitting local communities by creating jobs. However various studies have demonstrated that smaller, often family-run businesses, have a better jobs to sales ratio. In fact, the greater the square footage of a large supermarket, the fewer the employees required to staff it. When a large supermarket moves into an area and the local businesses gradually begin to close it's not just the shop staff that lose their jobs. It's the window cleaners, the delivery drivers, the suppliers, the accountants, the shop-fitting staff and so on.

Given Simms viewpoint t his could have been a very one-sided book - and in many respects it is. However, Tesco did decline to respond to his comments; presumably they didn't perceive much threat from this admittedly rather academic book. The final three chapters "Win back where you live", "Refreshing the dragon's breath" and "The Birth of Something Better" show what can be done to rejuvenate our communities, to empower consumers and suppliers and to keep the supermarkets under control.

Of course it is rather idealistic stuff; what reason is there for legislation to control the supermarkets? As Simms says Gordon Brown promised in 2001 that "In the new Britain of enterprise open to all, we will expose and end anti-competitive practices". But not long before Tesco had given millions of Pounds for the ailing Millennium Dome project and around the same time s Tesco made their donation the government shelved plans for a tax on shopping centre car-parks. Let's not forget, too, that he was awarded a knighthood in 2002.

What you think of "Tescopoly" will largely depend on whether or not you agree with Andrew Simms. One of the major problems with the book is that it is quite obvious that the author came to write the book with an end result in mind; this is no research piece. Simms knew what he wanted to argue and went about finding the statistics and quotes to back up his views. Personally I agree with Simms's views but I can see that there is a major flaw in his approach; tackling this book in this way means that Simms only uses those statistics that back up his arguments. On a couple of occasions he mentions reports that refute his findings but he says only that they are "wrong". Brilliantly argued!

Another flaw is that within the chapters there is no coherent path; he moves from one subject to the other too fast, not linking points and sometimes returning to an interesting thread a few chapters later when he should have concluded the argument in that chapter. Considering the many pages of notes, the bibliography and suggestions for further reading, I would have thought that the main body of the book could have been better written and more clearly presented.

While I will agree that for many supermarkets "make life easier", my own opinion is that they are damaging not just to our local communities but to the economy in general, inhibiting choice and making us selfish and narrow-minded. How many of us think about the reasons why Tesco (or any other supermarket) can sell a pineapple grown thousands of miles away for less than a quid? This book is not a fair look at the pros and cons of supermarkets but if, like me, you believe the supermarkets should be brought more to account, then it does provide some powerful ammunition to debate with. 

...less