Tesco bolsters regional food-buying operations

by Melanie Godsell, Marketing 20-Sep-06

Tesco is ramping up its regional buying capacity in a bid to capitalise on growing consumer interest in farmers' markets and locally grown produce.

The UK's biggest grocer is opening regional buying offices in the East,
Midlands, North, South and South-West of England, as well as one in
Wales.

Tesco is recruiting for the offices, each of which will have its own

dedicated marketer and buying manager. The plan is to have the

operations up and running by the end of the year.

The initiative will include regional counters, and will be advertised
in-store. The supermarket has also launched a 'regional sourcing'
website, offering profiles of suppliers and urging customers to
recommend their favourite regional products. Tesco said it was too early
to say whether it would be backed by advertising.

Tesco's efforts to position itself as a champion of local suppliers were
recently dealt a blow in Wales when the retailer ran an in-store ad in
Bangor which featured a range of Welsh produce and a claim that they
were 'local'. This week the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a
complaint that 'local' food should mean produce sourced from the
immediate area.

Food miles - the distance a product has travelled to its point of
purchase - is becoming an increasingly important issue for consumers.
Faced with the choice of a locally grown non-organic product or an
imported organic product, 84% of people surveyed by the Soil Association
opted for the former.

The Soil Association also found that in 2005 the value of independent
and farm shops grew by 32%, while box schemes and farmers' markets
increased in value by 22% and 10% respectively.