Strategy outline for Tesco brand

Tesco

1st Paragraph:

Despite being one of the largest and most instantly recognizable brands in Britain, Tesco has experienced some short-term setbacks of late, and therefore should de-emphasize the Tesco brand in favour of the minor, painfully generic OneStop brand that consist primarily of convenience stores.

The Tesco brand has faced numerous recent challenges that question the long-run viability of the brand. After all, following 20 years of not recording any profit decline, the company has now posted profit declines two years running, and only earns ?3 billion on its ?70 billion in revenue.

Clearly, the brand has all sorts of problems and its future is in jeopardy, so a new strategy will be needed to save this company from extinction.

2nd Paragraph

An advantage of using the OneStop brand is that it has been part of the Tesco empire for several years, but it does not come with the baggage associated with Tesco.

Further, the OneStop model is increasing in popularity.

The trend towards smaller grocery stores in more local areas can be extrapolated to mean that convenience stores like OneStop are the next logical step.

Tesco can begin by rebranding the Tesco Express outlets in order to boost the profile of the OneStop name, and then apply the Tesco Express business model across the company, eschewing the larger stores.

3rd Paragraph

It is imperative that the new strategy to focus on smaller stores and a different brand should be accompanied by changes at the management level.

The current management team has not only overseen a decline to just ?3 billion in profit, but has also stood watch over a security breach, and a reputation scandal surrounding the organisational culture at the company.

A new management team can not only spearhead the rebranding effort, but can restore the faith of the employees in the company.

Arguably, a management team that has created such internal discord would likely fail at a comprehensive organisational change; a new team will be required to take the company in this new direction.

Furthermore, some of the security issues need to be addressed in greater detail.

Whereas the old management team could take computers home, this should be eliminated, and email should be encrypted from now on as well.

4th Paragraph

The emphasis on the OneStop brand is the logical choice for Tesco for a few reasons.

First, this model of store is located in neighbourhoods, as they have a smaller footprint.

They are typically open 7 days a week.

OneStop has already demonstrated that it aims to meet the convenience needs of its customers by offering longer hours, cash machines, Post Office, National Lottery and PayPoint, all services valued by the consumer that can enhance the OneStop brand's reputation.

5th Paragraph:

If the existing Tesco Express outlets are converted to the OneStop brand, that will give OneStop greater exposure, and will reduce the footprint of the Tesco brand in the UK.

If this experiment goes well, OneStop can be associated with a high quality of store, paving the way for the conversion of other brands.

This move should be supported with extensive advertising that seeks to increase the profile of OneStop, and build a brand image for the OneStop name that goes beyond being a more convenience store chain.