Few things are more annoying in life than visiting your local commercial property supermarket only to find that a specific item you need is “out of stock” or “discontinued”. This can include anything from a simple pair of tweezers to a specific single malt whisky distilled in Moray, Scotland. Consumers are becoming gradually more and more used to online shopping as opposed to physically travelling to their local commercial property store and, with many large suppliers now offering the option on their website of buying direct from them, commercial property supermarkets must always aim to be one step ahead to avoid losing customers.
This is why Tesco have launched a new service, “Tesco Connect”, this week. Designed specifically for suppliers of Tesco commercial property stores, the portal allows suppliers to keep an eye on current trends and items that are selling particularly well in their commercial property supermarkets with up-to-the-minute sales reports, figures and graphs.
The portal will allow suppliers to respond quickly to changes in customer demand, but also to get an idea of the bigger picture when it comes to what consumers want from their commercial property supermarkets. Not only that, but forecast product trends based on market information combined with information on which items are most popular day to day will allow suppliers to cope with excess demand in the commercial properties all over the UK – hopefully leading to fewer tweezers and whisky shortages for us consumers!
Tony Mitchell, Tesco’s Supply Chain Director, said; “We are always looking for new ways to improve the service for customers and the information and insight shared through Tesco Connect comes from several years of development and technical innovation.
“We’ve already had some fantastic feedback from the suppliers who have worked with us on the new portal.
“Many of them have told us that the forecast data has begun to change the way they work and will help re-focus their efforts.”
Some of Tesco’s most popular suppliers are already taking part in the pilot of the portal, including Unilever, Innocent and Nestle. Since its launch on the 31st May, the relevant suppliers have already reported an increase in productivity reflected in sales, with the number of shortages reduced by more than a third in Tesco commercial properties nationwide.
Do you think that services such as “Tesco Connect” will allow supermarkets to run more efficiently? Or do you believe that this style of “Big Brother” monitoring over consumer spending will put people off shopping in their local chain commercial property?
