Most Americans have never heard of Tesco. Tesco is a multinational grocery and merchandise retailer and can be directly compared with Walmart. They currently have 7000 stores in 12 countries. Jack Cohen started the company in 1919 and opened their first store in London, England. The company is still based out of England to this day and has expanded in a way that could make any Fortune 500 company jealous. In 2013 Tesco ranked 3rd biggest retailer in the world behind Walmart and Metro AG they had over 90 billion dollars in revenue in 2014.Interesting note though Walmart had over 400 billion dollars in revenue in the same year. Walmart was founded in 1962. It’s interesting when companies like Tesco are compared to Walmart, and in reality no one is close to Walmart.
Tesco has their hands in everything from selling produce to developing their own line of tablets. They have over 600,000 employees and have 30% of the UK market share for all retailers (4) . So when can other firm’s match Tesco’s effort I’d say can any other firm match Walmart’s efforts? Walmart has the largest retail database warehouse in the world. In today’s market it is common practice for major retailers to have data centers to manage their data.
Walmart has several data centers, one opening in 2012 cost $100 million dollars and has 210,000 square-feet (1). They also have another center at 125,000 square feet. It is estimated that Walmart’s data centers have the capacity to hold 400 terabits a piece. Tesco in the past couple of years has expanded its data capabilities and currently has built a $104 million dollar data center in addition to its already active 21 data centers all around the world. Tesco’s data center’s range from 5,000 to 30,000 square feet (2). Tesco is using their data centers to “deliver technology to our customers and colleagues” according to Tesco’s IT director. They are using their newest center to provide cloud-based IT services to support their growth online and in banking business in retail outlets in Eastern Europe. Walmart uses its data centers to develop trends in purchasing before major events (natural disasters, holidays) and they use the information they gather to determine the best way to stock their shelves. The data centers also control many functions in individual Walmart stores. They have remarkable capabilities, they can turn the lights on and off in the stores, adjust the climate control if it isn’t set properly. The also play the in store music from their data centers. All of their employee clock in information is run off the computer servers located in their data centers.
Walmart and Tesco use data to improve their turnover and increase profits. They use data to analyze trends and predict future trends. Both of these companies are similar in more interesting ways then just being mass retailers. They both have tried to enter foreign markets and have failed miserably in certain cases in doing so. Tesco lost $1.2 billion trying to enter the American market (4) . Walmart continues to try to enter the Chinese’s and German market, but Walmart continues to try and expand into these countries despite recording losses. Tesco took the easy way out and pulled all of their American assets and they are no longer present here in America.
Data collection is an important strategy used by Tesco. They collect data by having customers sign up for accounts and whenever they purchase products Tesco records it, and they then use the information to tailor ad’s and coupon’s for that particular customer. Tesco in recent years has started to make and sell their own tech. They developed an entry level tablet in hopes of competing with the I-Pad and Fire tablets. The tablet is going onto its second generation even though Tesco is currently going through allegations of a $250 million profit overstatement. Tesco also planning to make a smart phone within the next couple of years. Tesco has had some notable recent struggles.
Within the past year the company has lost over $20 billion dollars off of its value. After they had a $250 million dollar profit overstatement they fired 8 executives and their stock has fallen over 50 cents since the start of 2014 (4). Their profits are down over 90% for the first half of this year. Tesco is starting to fall and it is falling hard. Walmart on the other hand has done reasonably well and profits continue to grow every year.
Walmart is #20 of Forbes Global 2000 and #1 in sales, Walmart’s market cap is currently $246 billion(4). Tesco has a market cap of $710 million but it has lost much of its market cap in the past year and it used to be $1.5 billion dollars (4). Walmart’s sheer number of stores gives it the biggest edge over a company like Tesco, but the mismanagement of Tesco is what has been its downfall. Tesco was the envy of many retailers only a year ago, but a year later they are starting to fall. Who knows where they will be in a year. All we know is Walmart will still be expanding and running its business with a cold and calculated ruthless business strategy. Tesco shows many strengths with its vase data centers which will inevitably give it a competitive advantages against other firms. Mismanagement has been its downfall to this point, with the right people one day Tesco could be as big as Walmart. But who knows, anything can happen.
Tesco has their hands in everything from selling produce to developing their own line of tablets. They have over 600,000 employees and have 30% of the UK market share for all retailers (4) . So when can other firm’s match Tesco’s effort I’d say can any other firm match Walmart’s efforts? Walmart has the largest retail database warehouse in the world. In today’s market it is common practice for major retailers to have data centers to manage their data.
Walmart has several data centers, one opening in 2012 cost $100 million dollars and has 210,000 square-feet (1). They also have another center at 125,000 square feet. It is estimated that Walmart’s data centers have the capacity to hold 400 terabits a piece. Tesco in the past couple of years has expanded its data capabilities and currently has built a $104 million dollar data center in addition to its already active 21 data centers all around the world. Tesco’s data center’s range from 5,000 to 30,000 square feet (2). Tesco is using their data centers to “deliver technology to our customers and colleagues” according to Tesco’s IT director. They are using their newest center to provide cloud-based IT services to support their growth online and in banking business in retail outlets in Eastern Europe. Walmart uses its data centers to develop trends in purchasing before major events (natural disasters, holidays) and they use the information they gather to determine the best way to stock their shelves. The data centers also control many functions in individual Walmart stores. They have remarkable capabilities, they can turn the lights on and off in the stores, adjust the climate control if it isn’t set properly. The also play the in store music from their data centers. All of their employee clock in information is run off the computer servers located in their data centers.
Walmart and Tesco use data to improve their turnover and increase profits. They use data to analyze trends and predict future trends. Both of these companies are similar in more interesting ways then just being mass retailers. They both have tried to enter foreign markets and have failed miserably in certain cases in doing so. Tesco lost $1.2 billion trying to enter the American market (4) . Walmart continues to try to enter the Chinese’s and German market, but Walmart continues to try and expand into these countries despite recording losses. Tesco took the easy way out and pulled all of their American assets and they are no longer present here in America.
Data collection is an important strategy used by Tesco. They collect data by having customers sign up for accounts and whenever they purchase products Tesco records it, and they then use the information to tailor ad’s and coupon’s for that particular customer. Tesco in recent years has started to make and sell their own tech. They developed an entry level tablet in hopes of competing with the I-Pad and Fire tablets. The tablet is going onto its second generation even though Tesco is currently going through allegations of a $250 million profit overstatement. Tesco also planning to make a smart phone within the next couple of years. Tesco has had some notable recent struggles.
Within the past year the company has lost over $20 billion dollars off of its value. After they had a $250 million dollar profit overstatement they fired 8 executives and their stock has fallen over 50 cents since the start of 2014 (4). Their profits are down over 90% for the first half of this year. Tesco is starting to fall and it is falling hard. Walmart on the other hand has done reasonably well and profits continue to grow every year.
Walmart is #20 of Forbes Global 2000 and #1 in sales, Walmart’s market cap is currently $246 billion(4). Tesco has a market cap of $710 million but it has lost much of its market cap in the past year and it used to be $1.5 billion dollars (4). Walmart’s sheer number of stores gives it the biggest edge over a company like Tesco, but the mismanagement of Tesco is what has been its downfall. Tesco was the envy of many retailers only a year ago, but a year later they are starting to fall. Who knows where they will be in a year. All we know is Walmart will still be expanding and running its business with a cold and calculated ruthless business strategy. Tesco shows many strengths with its vase data centers which will inevitably give it a competitive advantages against other firms. Mismanagement has been its downfall to this point, with the right people one day Tesco could be as big as Walmart. But who knows, anything can happen.