Abstract

From being a traditional grocery store to becoming a retailer that is working on building its business model around offline and online customers, Tesco has come a long way. Tesco, which throughout its history set benchmarks and never hesitated to be the first mover and take initiatives in studying customer behavior and enhancing its customer service, invested large amounts in increasing the digital experience of the new age customers. Tesco focused on making the digital shopping experience simple yet personalized. The retailer has one of the largest following in social media and is seeing a multifold increase in its online sales. The case describes the digital transformation at Tesco, tracking its transformation through the brick, online, and digital ages. It takes a look at the various challenges faced by Tesco’s management at each stage and how it not only gave a fitting reply to the competition but also set benchmarks for other retailers. The case highlights the issues and challenges involved in building an effective business model that proactively addresses channel conflicts and integrates the multi-channel strategy. It also gives scope for debating the effectiveness of Tesco’s digital strategy and how to improve it.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the digital transformation process
• Appreciate the need for digital transformation
• Analyze the challenges at each step in the digital transformation process
• Discover further scope for leveraging on the digital platform

Keywords

Digital Transformation, Green Shield Stamps, Every little helps, Tesco Club Card, Tesco Online, Tesco on Social Media, Multichannel Strategy