Tesco is the Wal-Mart of England. As an international grocery and general merchandising retailer, the company has stores all over the world. It is the third largest global retailer based on its revenue; first place belongs to Wal-Mart and the runner up is Carrefour.
Tesco started up in 1919 as a surplus grocery store. A man by the name of Jack Cohen sold groceries from a stall in the East End of London. In 1924 Tesco created its own brand name product and it was the first of many products under this name. Jack bought some tea and produced his own labels. The labels took the first three letters of the original supplier’s name, T.E. Stockwell, and the first two letters of Jack’s surname, Cohen. Together it formed the brand Tesco!
In the 1980s Tesco began to offer Tesco.com discount vouchers and grow dramatically. Under the business motto, pile it high and sell it cheap, Tesco began a hostile takeover of a chain of 40 supermarkets under the name of Hillards. This was only the start of its growth, as in the 1990s the company also took over another supermarket chain called William Low. The growth was exponential and the company continued to climb the ladder of success. In 1997 Tesco introduced its “Clubcard”, a loyalty card that rewarded its shoppers for continuing to shop at Tesco stores. The company picked up all the modern trends of merchandising and proceeded to become one of the biggest retailers in the world!