INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

International Business



International Business

Overview of the Retail Company

Tesco is one of the significant retailers in the world. Tesco is a global business, and the company has a perception of playing an integral role that minimizes the environmental impacts. The company was established in the early 20th century i.e. 1919, and it launched its first product with the brand name of Tesco in the 1920s.

Tesco started its first store in 1929 in Edgeware in the UK. Further, the first self service supermarket was started in 1956 in Maldon. Tesco started its gasoline station services in 1974. Tesco continued its international expansion in 1990s and the stores opened in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. While it was opening stores, it ventured into Taiwan, South Korea, and Thailand (Humby et al. 2011).

Besides the UK, the company operates in the following European countries: Republic of Ireland, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey. At the end of FY2011, Tesco operated 1,082 stores in these countries. In Central Europe, the company offered general merchandise, electronic products and clothing items from famous brands such as Levis, Disney, and FCUK. In addition to that, the stores of the company in Liberec and Bratislava were based on traditional infrastructure of the multi-floor department stores. In Asia, the company operates in countries such as South Korea, Thailand, China, Malaysia and India. Tesco also had operations in Japan, but in September 2011, the company announced plans to sell its business in Japan. At the end of FY2011, the company had 1,419 stores in the region, including stores in Japan. In India, the company is in agreement with Trent with the famous brand of Tata Group. Tesco has been developing Trent's retail format Star Bazaar in the country. In Thailand, the company operates stores under the Tesco Lotus banner. Tesco entered the South Korean market in a partnership with Samsung in 1999. Now, Tesco operates through multi format stores in the country and has become the second largest retailer in South Korea. In the US, Tesco operated 164 stores at the end of FY2011. The company sources many of its items related to clothing, food all around the world. It is also involved in buying products directly from producers and manufacturers. In addition to that, the group sourcing operations of Tesco is headquartered in Hong Kong. Tesco Bank is engaged in banking services in the UK. At the end of FY2011, it had more than 6.5 million customer accounts. The segment offers consumer credit (including credit cards and unsecured loans), savings accounts, insurance and mortgages (Camp 2009).

The company launched its first website in 2000. In 2001, Tesco was involved in a strategic relationship with Safeway, an operator of supermarkets in the US, to take the tesco.com home shopping model to the US. In the same year, Tesco entered the Malaysian market. Tesco (or "the company") is one of the leading food and grocery retailers in the world. The company has operations in 14 countries spread ...