Tesco to Simplify Store Operations, with Focus on Metro

We have begun conversations with colleagues about some operational changes to the way we run our Metro stores in the UK. We will simplify and reduce processes and administrative tasks across all of our 153 Tesco Metro stores.

These changes will allow us to serve shoppers better and to run our business more sustainably, in an increasingly competitive and challenging retail environment. Importantly, they will also allow us to better align the way we run our stores to the way that customers are shopping in them.

The changes in our Metro stores will be focused on better tailoring them to how our customers shop. The Metro format was originally designed for larger, weekly shops, but today nearly 70% of customers use them as convenience stores, buying food for that day.

We are therefore simplifying the way we run our Metro stores, with changes including:

• faster and simpler ways of filling shelves, with fewer products stored in back rooms and more stock going straight to the shop floor;
• colleagues working more flexibly across the store to improve customer service at the busiest times of the day and in the right areas of the store; and
• a leaner management structure, as we simplify our ways of working.

We are also making some small changes in 134 of our 1,750 Express stores, where customer footfall is lower. Changes in these stores will include a slight reduction in opening hours during quieter trading periods at the start and end of the day, and simplifying stock routines.

There will also be some localised changes in some large stores, which will see us streamlining operational routines, including our processes for moving stock around the store and filling shelves.

Our priority now is to support affected colleagues, helping find alternative roles within Tesco for as many as possible. We expect that these changes will lead to an overall reduction of around 4,500 colleagues.

Jason Tarry, UK & ROI CEO, said:

“In a challenging, evolving retail environment, with increasing cost pressures, we have to continue to review the way we run our stores to ensure we reflect the way our customers are shopping and do so in the most efficient way. We do not take any decision which impacts colleagues lightly, but have to make sure we remain relevant for customers and operate a sustainable business now and in the future.”