Tesco throws down the gauntlet to German discounters with new discount chain
Chatteri — British supermarket group Tesco has thrown down the gauntlet to German discounters Aldi and Lidl by launching what it says will be the cheapest store in town. CEO Dave Lewis unveiled Tesco’s new Jack’s chain on Wednesday, saying the discount stores would sell 2,600 products including 1,800 Jack’s-branded items. The first two Jack’s stores will open to shoppers on Thursday, with another 10 to 15 following in the next six months as Tesco copies the tactics of the German discounters, whose limited-range stores have won over increasing numbers of British shoppers since the economic crisis hit in 2008. Together Aldi and Lidl have a combined 13.1% market share in Britain, chipping away at market leader Tesco and its three biggest rivals Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons. Jack’s is named after Jack Cohen, who in 1919 founded the business that became Tesco. It is a significant move by Lewis, who has rebuilt Tesco after a 2014 accounting scandal capped a dramatic downturn in tradin...
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