Tesco’s chief executive Dave Lewis will leave the Big 4 retailer next summer, an announcement that sent shock waves across the industry. Tesco is currently the highest-ranking retailer in the FTSE 100 thanks to Lewis’ turnaround plan implemented shortly after his arrival in 2014.
At the time Tesco was facing a crisis following the million-pound accounting revelation and the horsemeat scandal of 2013. Lewis has said he’s stepping down as he has completed the job he was hired to do – returning Tesco to profitability.
And complete it he has. YouGov data shows that since Lewis’ appointment in 2014 Tesco has gone from strength to strength in terms of value and quality perception – two brand health metrics which had suffered during the scandals.
In 2014, Tesco’s Value score (a net measure of whether consumers think the brand represents good or poor value for money) was +8.6. This more than doubled by 2019, increasing by 10.9 points to +19.5.
In 2014, Tesco’s Value score was the lowest of the Big 4 with Asda leading the way with +24.9, followed by Morrisons (+19.3) and Sainsbury’s (+17.0). By 2019, Tesco (+19.5) had caught up with Morrisons (+20.9) and Asda (+24.8).
Similarly, Tesco’s quality perception suffered greatly scoring a quality score of (+12.5) – massively lower than Sainsbury’s (+44.5) and Morrisons (+22.8). By 2019, Tesco’s quality score (a net measure of whether consumers think the brand represents good or poor quality) has more than doubled to +26.1, only just behind Morrisons (+26.8).
These score changes demonstrate the immense success Lewis’ turnaround plan achieved in the five year period he was CEO. Tesco is now not only the most famous supermarket chain, liked by 70% of Brits but is also the most popular place for Brits to shop for their groceries – 1 in 4 say Tesco is their main supermarket (25%).
Next summer, Lewis will be replaced by Boots chief commercial officer Ken Murphy, and it’ll be his job to continue these successes while competing with the rising discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.
Image: Getty
