Tesco Chaos

This is the free for all area, live and unleashed, say what you like!
handdrummer
Addict
Addict
Posts: 5389
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:58 am

Re:

Post by handdrummer »

hhinner wrote:
HHTel wrote:The whole store is being revamped. New departments. New fridges and some may have noticed there are new check-outs. No more pushing your produce to the cashier. It's quite a major shift and I'm sure it's because of Blueport opening in just over a month. I'm told that the supermarket there is TOPS. Can anyone confirm this?
I would have thought it would be Gourmet Market like their other properties.
Too bad that they don't know logistically how to do the re-vamp: after the store closes for the day, bring in an all-night crew to do the reset. that way you don't disrupt service and aggravate your customers. it would also be beneficial if the clerks knew how to restock the shelves without blocking the aisles with boxes. every store I've been in in Thailand does this. oh well, it's just what happens in the land of everything backwards.
User avatar
Big Boy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 45038
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:36 pm
Location: Bon Kai

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Big Boy »

:rant:
I can't take much more of this place. I joked once that it must have been re-designed by the same guy that 'improved' Petchkasem for us. It was a joke because I truly thought we were suffering the pain whilst transitioning to a better shopping experience.

Now it's almost completed, I need to find another supermarket. Yes, it's a well recorded fact that I'm not the world's best shopper, but this place is making the hairs stand up on the back of my neck i.e.

- Firstly and most importantly, the aisles have been narrowed. Thais don't stop to gossip on the left or the right allowing people to pass. They stop and gossip in the middle.

- Aisles are no longer straight. In places you have to divert at 45 degrees to get to your product, and then turn back 135 degrees to get back on track (sound familiar to driving along Petchkasem?).

- The planner forgot about pillars (for Petchkasem think central reservations). At least 2 aisles were blocked part way along this morning because of pillars. Actually, normally you'd still have room for one trolley to pass, but somebody in their wisdom has thought it appropriate to completely block the aisle by mounting a fire extinguisher in the gap. How long before the fire extinguisher is moved, and can't be found if needed?

- Oh, and what about old electrical fittings - protruding 2" above the floor?

- The aisles are narrower, but staff continue to sit in/block them, surrounded by waste having a texting party.

- Car trolleys, which are useless for shopping, but great fun for kids to run amok with their younger siblings are the motorcycles of the supermarket world. We should be thankful there are only about 10 of them. And the the screams from the child when they have to leave the car at the checkout. Of course, at this point, the car trolley has been abandoned, and the checkout is blocked until some non-user moves it.

- I could go on, but a shop I used to tolerate has become intolerable. What happens when the snow birds return?

God forbid a Pokemon ever pops up there. Crush injuries would be inevitable.

I am usually quite a calm person, but I quickly develop road shopper's rage in that shop. I'm hoping that Bluport brings a suitable alternative, but failing that, I'll have to travel further afield for my daily needs, or pay a little extra at smaller local shops.
:rant:
Championship Plymouth Argyle 0 - 1 Preston NE :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Points 41; Position 18
User avatar
caller
Hero
Hero
Posts: 10977
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 6:05 pm
Location: Hua Hin

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by caller »

I wouldn't bank on Bluport being an improvement if the Mall in Korat is anything to go by! I was in Korat for a few days until yesterday and at The Mall, Fresh Mart is being upgraded to a Gourmet Market. There's heaps more choice and aesthetically, it's far more pleasing, but all the newly installed aisles are narrower and it all seems pretty dark to me. Not really sure what that's all about?
Talk is cheap
User avatar
Big Boy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 45038
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:36 pm
Location: Bon Kai

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Big Boy »

It doesn't help that everything has been moved. People have to travel twice as far, making some stupid direction turns in narrower aisles trying to find their goods - that gets me wound up without all of the other obstacles.
Championship Plymouth Argyle 0 - 1 Preston NE :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Points 41; Position 18
Homer
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 3336
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:11 pm

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Homer »

It would have been wrong if someone had organized a day to abandon full trolleys. One could have filled their trolley with items from a single section, then left it where the items used to be located. Unfortunately CCTV has made such tomfoolery an unwise decision.
arcadianagain
Ace
Ace
Posts: 1748
Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:58 pm

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by arcadianagain »

Well I left a conveyor belt full of stuff at Tescos a while back, I arrived at the checkout a couple of minutes before the deadline for buying alcohol, the checkout girls fiddled about with her till and cash then declared I was too late to buy my beer. I walked out and went to Villa Market, no problem with deadlines there.
RCer
Ace
Ace
Posts: 1294
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2016 12:48 pm

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by RCer »

Was in Tesco the other day. It looks like they have copied the marketing floorplan from several US stores (can't speak for other countires).

The idea being to set up the expensive things like meat and seafood so that you can't just cruise quickly through it.

They also put the necessities (water, etc) on the side of the store opposite the entry so you have walk through the store to get to it.
User avatar
Bristolian
Deceased
Deceased
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2012 1:38 pm
Location: Hua Hin & Bangkok

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Bristolian »

Most major supermarkets are controlled to the Nth degree and local store managers have little or no choice how the goods are displayed.

The major suppliers/manufacturers will buy space in each store and separate display areas.

Most of these major suppliers will dictate down to the product, packaging size and on which shelf it will be displayed. They supply a planogram of the layout and reps will visit the stores to ensure compliance.

Very typically these are the Coke Cola - Pepsi, Unilever - Proctor and Gamble, Mars - Cadbury organisations to mention a few. The stores would need to pay high penalties if they mix products from these competing Giants, on the same shelf or pre-paid display area.

Some stores, Makro in particular, get around this as technically they are a wholesaler and not a recognised retail outlet.

In the UK, the old major ice cream manufacturers would play the same game (Lyons Maid and Walls) each would provide their own freezer display cabinets, free of charge, provided you exclusively sold their products. You were contractually tied and could not put as much as ice cubes in their display cabinets unless they supplied them.

In short, the poor manager at Tesco will have no say in his store layout or what is displayed where. Big money changes hands at high levels to ensure that we are seduced into buying the products they want to sell.

In Europe you will often find the bakery at the rear of the store and the smell of the baking bread is piped to the front of the store, thus ensuring customers walk through the whole store to get their newly baked loaf. There is a lot of science behind store layout but pillars in the aisles is a new science for me :D
"'The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." - Mark Twain
User avatar
Big Boy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 45038
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:36 pm
Location: Bon Kai

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Big Boy »

Bristolian wrote:In short, the poor manager at Tesco will have no say in his store layout or what is displayed where. Big money changes hands at high levels to ensure that we are seduced into buying the products they want to sell.
But he must have control over:

- His store being turned in to a race circuit by inappropriate trolley cars.

- Texting parties and piles of rubbish in aisles.

- Fire equipment blocking aisles.

- Power supplies randomly causing trip hazards in the aisles.

If he can't sort basics like that, and he has no control over stock or layout, what exactly does he do?

Funny actually, before I sold my soul to the Civil Service, Tesco wanted me to be a trainee manager - sounds a doddle.
Championship Plymouth Argyle 0 - 1 Preston NE :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Points 41; Position 18
User avatar
Bristolian
Deceased
Deceased
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2012 1:38 pm
Location: Hua Hin & Bangkok

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Bristolian »

You would be astonished at the lack of power the store manager has in the larger picture in running his store. My late wife was a manager of many of their stores in the Berkshire area and later was in their regional management.

You are of course right when you talk of safety, the store manager must be in control and ensure safety at all times.

What he or she is not responsible for are the delivery times of goods. Over the years stores have reduced goods storage to basically zero. When goods arrive that must be placed on store shelves.

Of course this should be managed closely and in the UK goods are delivered at night and shelf fillers employed.

Tesco operate their own distribution in Thaikand so you would think that they could easily copy the model from the UK but maybe there are other restrictions that apply and deliveries can only be made in the day.....I really don't know.

What I do know is that outside of staff and safety the local store manager has very little say in the operation of his/her store
"'The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." - Mark Twain
User avatar
migrant
Addict
Addict
Posts: 5860
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:15 am
Location: California is now in the past hello Thailand!!

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by migrant »

In the states it's as Bristolian says, a manager basically does scheduling, very litle control over anything
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
User avatar
Big Boy
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 45038
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:36 pm
Location: Bon Kai

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Big Boy »

Bristolian wrote:What I do know is that outside of staff and safety the local store manager has very little say in the operation of his/her store
But are these not a key part of the issue I'm quoting?
Championship Plymouth Argyle 0 - 1 Preston NE :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Points 41; Position 18
User avatar
Bristolian
Deceased
Deceased
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2012 1:38 pm
Location: Hua Hin & Bangkok

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Bristolian »

Big Boy wrote:
Bristolian wrote:What I do know is that outside of staff and safety the local store manager has very little say in the operation of his/her store
But are these not a key part of the issue I'm quoting?
They are and I was not disagreeing with you.

I was simply stating a case for the local manager who is not always the person to blame for stock filled and therefore impassable aisles.
"'The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." - Mark Twain
User avatar
Vital Spark
Legend
Legend
Posts: 2044
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:34 pm
Location: Arcos de la Frontera, Spain

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by Vital Spark »

Didn't Tesco sell off their Thai branches to CP? Our local store (which was OK) has recently been refurbished, and we're suffering the same problems as BigBoy. They've converted almost half the store to mobile phone shops, Major Cineplex, and electrical goods. The food section is a fraction what it used to be, and is a mess. Empty shelves - a cardinal sin in any shop, bottles of Pepsi or water filling a whole isle (just to fill up shelf space), and it's turned far more Thai as far as the products are concerned (just how many varieties of noodles/fish sauce do you need?).

Re. Major Cineplex; the first week they offered Ben Hur in English (that was 3 weeks ago), since then the films have all been in Thai. Most of my students would prefer to watch movies with the original soundtrack and Thai subtitles. I'm badgering Major Cineplex on Facebook - haven't had a reply yet, which is no surprise.

VS
"Properly trained, man can be a dog's best friend"
HHTel
Hero
Hero
Posts: 10814
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:44 pm

Re: Tesco Chaos

Post by HHTel »

It started as Lotus Supercentre owned by CP and Tesco bought in in 1998. In 2003 CP sold it's shares to Tesco. So it's owned by Tesco Lotus Thailand whose parent company is Tesco UK.
Post Reply