Tesco says crisis of confidence has become consumer spending recession

Carolyn Bradley, Tesco’s UK Marketing Director said a crisis in confidence has now become a consumer spending recession. Speaking at the Retail Week Conference, she said it was very clear the crisis had now moved “from the city to the home,” with 63% of households feeling either under some or severe financial pressure, adding that older customers and those on lower incomes were hardest hit. Bradley said Tesco had been monitoring consumer’s changing confidence, where price and fuel inflation were the main concerns last year, job security is now seen as the biggest issue. As a result, she said customers were looking to reduce spend by shopping around more, as well as trading down instore. She added that consumer’s concerns around ethical issues were now becoming secondary to price. Bradley defended Tesco’s decision to launch Discount brands after identifying a gap between standard brands and Tesco Value lines. Finally, she said it was important for Tesco to help customers maintain their lifestyle, pointing to Tesco’s Clubcard deals, which enabled customers to exchange Clubcard vouchers for four times their value at some 400 partners.

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