Phil Clarke’s departure from Tesco, while perhaps no great surprise, suggests that the retailer is further in the mire than we might have realised.

Phil Clarke’s departure from Tesco, while perhaps no great surprise, suggests that the retailer is even further in the mire than we might have realised.

In his defence, he inherited a business in the UK that was the victim of underinvestment and understaffing.

On the international front Clarke acted efficiently and deftly, rapidly completing an array of disposals and restructuring that leaves the company with a leaner global presence. There’s still work to do – trading in some markets remains abysmal – but progress has been made nonetheless.

With massive shifts in shopper behaviour and the consequent flight to the discounters, Tesco’s path in the UK market has been treacherous.

Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and M&S have all outperformed the market leader as well, and that’s before you factor in the millions of shopping trips lost to the high street discounters.

Against this backdrop Clarke has arguably completed, or at least started, some essential transformations.

The reinvention of Extra was essential and the progress made so far has been superficially impressive. Whether or not initial post-refit sales uplifts are sustainable remains to be seen, but improvements to non-food, fresh, bakery and in-store dining are palpable and make the stores a generally more attractive proposition. Obviously not more attractive than Aldi yet, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Clamour for some meaningful action on price persists and there is some merit in Tesco perhaps considering a more robust stance on it, but there also remains a lot to do to make good on Clarke’s promise to get rid of confusing promotions.

In-store execution and standards need more hours putting behind them too. I’ve encountered some woeful stuff on recent store visits, even in stores that have been recently refreshed.

Dave Lewis joins at a fascinating time. He inherits a business that is being hammered by discounters across Europe, and a leaner meaner presence in Asia.

He takes control of one of the world’s best convenience retailers and a world-leading online grocer.

However, he also gets a UK supermarket business bereft of meaning and identity.

To win in food retail these days, you need to be cheap, wonderful, easy or loveable. Tesco is currently none of the above. Good luck Dave.

  • Bryan Roberts is insights director at Kantar Retail