History of Tesco

Jack Cohen founded Tesco in 1919 when he began to sell surplus groceries from a stall at Well

Street Market, Hackney, in the East End of London (ironically, the market is now much smaller

than in those days; a large Tesco Metro store now sits on the site). The Tesco brand first appeared

in 1924, Tesco was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1947 as Tesco Stores (Holdings)

Limited. The first Tesco self-service store opened in 1956 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire (Tesco was

not the first organisation to open a self-service store in the UK).

During the 1950s and the 1960s, Tesco grew both organically and also through acquisition until it

owned more than 800 stores, mostly in the southern half of England.

Jack Cohen’s business motto was “pile it high and sell it cheap” and this was the key element of

Tesco’s strategy in the 1960s and 1970s. A major sales promotional tool at the time was the use of

a scheme based upon giving Green Shield Stamps to further increase customer loyalty. However,

in a massive repositioning of its business in 1977, it stopped issuing stamps and instead cut its

prices by 25% overnight.

In May 1987, Tesco completed its hostile takeover of the Hilliards’ chain of 40 supermarkets in the

North of England for £220 million as part of its strategy of becoming a national chain instead of

being perceived as a southern chain.

In 1994, the company took over the well-respected Scottish supermarket chain William Low, which

operated 57 stores. This paved the way for Tesco to expand its presence in Scotland, where it was

weaker than in England.

In 1995, Tesco introduced a loyalty card, branded ‘Clubcard’ and, later, an Internet shopping

service known as Tesco Direct. This incorporated a printed catalogue enabling customers to order

from a vast range of non-food merchandise. As of November 2006, Tesco was the only food

retailer to make online shopping profitable.

In 1996, the typeface of the logo was changed to the current version with stripe reflections

underneath, whilst the corporate font used for