Using Clubcard to stem the flow of customers being tempted to try out its rivals is a smart move by Tesco

Tesco has become so used to having its own way in the grocery market in the past decade, there will be plenty of people in Cheshunt who only remember the good times.

Today the challenges are greater than they have been for a decade, and this week’s massive campaign to herald double Clubcard points on all purchases shows just how rattled Tesco is by the renaissance of all of its big rivals.

Each in their own different ways, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are out-Tescoing Tesco. The UK’s number one retailer isn’t winning on price, it isn’t winning on product and it isn’t winning on marketing. The stores are a mirror image of how the retailer is perceived - cold and uninspiring - and as he toils away in the US, the marketing magic of Tim Mason is being sorely missed.

Some have said the double points offer smacks of panic, and it will certainly be expensive. But using Clubcard to stem the flow of customers being tempted to try out its rivals is a smart move. After all, isn’t that what a loyalty card is for? And when that loyalty is put to the test, it makes sense to give more back.

While the Tesco-baiters might want us to, it’s important not to get carried away. Tesco is still growing like-for-likes and, in the context of its 30%-plus grocery market share, the odd 0.1% of share loss here or there is insignificant.

But Tesco didn’t get to its dominant position by tolerating market-lagging growth. Expect Clubcard 2 to herald the start of the fightback.

The basics never change

“I had only one ambition when I was young. That was to stay warm.”

For a man who started life with such limited ambitions, Dave Whelan hasn’t done bad, and the extraordinary rags to riches tale told in his autobiography is well worth reading. There is an exclusive extract from the book on this website.

What comes through loud and clear in the book is that Whelan - who started his retail career in supermarkets before buying the one JJB Sports store in Wigan - is a trader through and through.

Watching, listening and understanding what customers want was what prompted him to turn the first JJB from a fishing shop to a self-service sports emporium. As companies grow complexity is often added, but the book shows time and again that the basic principles of retailing remain the same.