Shoppers bond with Tesco

Tesco is the top UK grocer as a brand that people bond with, but it is failing to keep customers loyal, according to a report by market research consultancy Millward Brown.

An analysis of the opinions of 400 UK adults on the top 9 grocery stores found that 34 per cent of respondents highlighted Tesco as the brand they bond with most, an increase from its top rating of 31 per cent in 2003. Asda scored 19 per cent and Sainsbury's 11 per cent.

However, Tesco's ability to convert these shoppers to brand-loyal consumers declined from 5.7 in 2004 to just 1.9 in 2005.

Waitrose showed an increase in its measures of emotional affinity and popularity, pushing its metric of future sales success from 3.4 in 2003 to 4.2 in 2005.

'Tesco is experiencing the perils of being the dominant player,' said Millward Brown senior account director Peter Walsh. 'But consumers are also acting on their dislike of 'market dominance' and the growing desire to buy quality products whatever the price.

'Asda weakened on the measure from 3.4 in 2003 to 0.7 in 2005,' said Walsh. 'Sainsbury's is beginning to turn the corner, leveraging its surviving consumer affinity to earn itself higher numbers of brand-loyal consumers than both Tesco and Asda with 2.7.'