Tesco urges suppliers to aid new product drive

Tesco is aiming for 10% of its sales to be from products not currently stocked by 2016 across food and non-food, Retail Week can reveal.

Tesco group commercial director John Scouler told an internal conference hosted by customer data arm Dunnhumby that new products form a key element of its strategy to breed customer loyalty in London earlier this month.

Scouler invited suppliers with product innovations to write to him directly if they had issues getting a product listed, it is understood.

In a presentation entitled Growing Together, Scouler urged suppliers to work with Tesco to focus on creating loyalty and personalisation; deliver a “great shopping trip” and “build a reputation that we are proud of. Use our scale for good”.

At the same event, Dunnhumby global capability managing director Dion Roberts identified that delivering “outstanding value”, creating a seamless experience, and “helping with advice, inspiration and a smile” were key to winning shoppers.

One attendee told Retail Week: “This felt like a newer, more open Tesco looking to collaborate.”

Tesco led the way in using loyalty data gleaned from Clubcard to overtake Sainsbury’s to become market leader in 1995.

The grocer is now looking to use loyalty and personalisation – alongside an improved store experience – to turnaround performance. It is expected to report a fall in like-for-likes of between 0.4% and 0.7% for the 26 weeks to August 24 in the second quarter when it reports its interim results on Wednesday.

Dunnhumby last week launched its own venture capital arm to fund retail-focused data start-ups.

Dunnhumby Ventures will make three initial investments, between £100,000 to £500,000 in seed funding in firms focused on consumer data.