Supply Chain · Profile from Supply Chain Research Companion

Tesco

The UK's largest grocer (~28.5% of the UK grocery market in 2025/26, company; statutory revenue ~£73.7bn including fuel in the 53 weeks to February 2026, reported), founded by Jack Cohen as a London market stall in 1919, which turned a loyalty card (Clubcard, 1995) into the first large-scale retail data business, built online grocery on store picking (Tesco.com, 2000) rather than on central warehouses, and bought the UK's largest wholesaler (Booker, 2018). Its American story is a failure: Fresh & Easy, launched in California, Nevada and Arizona in November 2007 with a purpose-built distribution centre and kitchen in Riverside, California, lost money every year and was sold in 2013 after a ~£1bn–1.2bn write-down (reported). Its defining scandal — the September 2014 discovery that profit had been overstated by ~£263m by booking supplier income too early (reported) — is the European case for the limits of buyer power: income extracted from suppliers is not a supply-chain saving. Tesco's supply-chain story turns on cost to serve and density — a dense UK store estate that doubles as its online network — and on what happens when buyer power is used as a substitute for operating efficiency.

At a glance

Founded: 1919 (Jack Cohen's market stall in London's East End); "Tesco" brand 1924 (T. E. Stockwell + Cohen); first store 1931 (Burnt Oak, Edgware); listed 1947 (company history, reported)
Headquarters: Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England
Ownership / structure: Public: Tesco PLC (London Stock Exchange: TSCO; FTSE 100). Widely held; no controlling shareholder
Leadership (2026): Ken Murphy, CEO since 1 October 2020 (ex-Walgreens Boots Alliance), succeeding Dave Lewis (CEO 2014–20); chair Gerry Murphy (verify current chair)
Segments: UK & Republic of Ireland (Tesco stores, Tesco Express, Extra, One Stop, Booker wholesale and its symbol brands — Londis, Budgens, Premier), Central Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), Tesco Bank (banking business sold to Barclays in 2024, reported; insurance and Clubcard Pay+ retained, verify)
Scale: FY2025/26 (53 weeks to late February 2026, results 16 April 2026): statutory revenue ~£73.7bn (+5.4%, incl. fuel), sales ex-VAT and fuel ~£66.6bn (+4.3%, reported), adjusted operating profit £3,152m (+0.8%), adjusted diluted EPS 29.0p (company via secondary sources). H1 2026/27 (26 weeks to 29 August 2026, 8 October 2026): adjusted operating profit £1,783m (+6.3% constant currency), free cash flow ~£1.57bn, FY2026/27 guidance £3.15–3.30bn (reported)
Network: ~4,000+ UK stores across formats plus Booker's cash-and-carry branches and ~5,000+ symbol and independent retailers supplied (company, verify current counts); a UK DC network of ambient, chilled, frozen and Booker depots; online grocery picked in stores and in "dotcom" centres; a 2025 chilled DC project at Aylesford, Kent using robotic automation (reported)
US exposure: No US stores since 2013. Fresh & Easy (2007–13) is the US case; sourcing exposure to US tariffs is indirect (Tesco is an importer into the UK, not the US)
Signature moves (incl. failures): Clubcard and dunnhumby (1995); Tesco.com store-picked online grocery (2000); Fresh & Easy (2007–13, failure); supplier-income overstatement (2014, failure); Homeplus sale and Asian exits (2015–20); Booker merger (2018); urban fulfilment centres with Takeoff (2019–, scaled back); the COVID online surge (2020)

8 strategic moves analysed

Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.

1995
Clubcard and dunnhumby
Technology bet — a national loyalty card whose purchase data, analysed by the start-up dunnhumby, drove ranging, promotions, store planning and supplier insight
2000
Tesco com Store Picked Online
Network build / strategy pivot — online grocery fulfilled by pickers in existing stores rather than from central automated warehouses
2007
Fresh and Easy US Launch and 2013 Exit
Network build and market entry — a new small-format grocery chain built from scratch in the US West (failure)
2014
Supplier Income Accounting Scandal
Regulatory, customs or legal action — overstatement of profit through early recognition of supplier "commercial income", followed by criminal, regulatory and adjudicator action (failure)
2015
Homeplus Sale and Asia Exits
Divestment — sale of the South Korean business (Homeplus) and, over 2012–21, exits from Japan, China, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia and Poland to repair the balance sheet and refocus on the UK
2018
Booker Merger
Acquisition or merger — retailer buys a wholesaler, adding cash-and-carry, delivered foodservice and symbol-group supply
2019
Urban Fulfilment Centres with Takeoff
Technology or automation bet — small automated picking units ("urban fulfilment centres", UFCs) built inside or next to large stores (scaled back)
2020
COVID Online Surge
Disruption and response — doubling online grocery capacity in weeks during the first UK lockdown, using store picking, priority slots for vulnerable customers and hiring

← Previous

Target

Toyota