Tesco’s chief executive has said the supermarket is not trying to replicate Amazon with its new marketplace, which launched earlier this month.
Ken Murphy said: “The primary focus of marketplace is to build out and extend the range of food, food related and home products available to customers – so to be very clear, we are not trying to be Amazon.”
“We are not trying to be all things to all people.”
He explained that the grocer is making “all of those niche products that you won’t necessarily find on our shop shelves” available to shoppers.
The CEO added that its new venture was different from its previous marketplace attempt Tesco Direct, as it was “fully integrated” into its core online platform.
He said: “Tesco Direct was a completely separate platform, a completely separate website, so it was very disconnected. This is much more integrated.”
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In terms of customers’ reception to the marketplace so far, Murphy noted while it was “early days” they’d had some “very positive early signals in terms of the number of orders.”
The update comes as Tesco strengthened its market share and maintained its profit guidance for the year, after reporting a 4.6% rise in its underlying UK sales for the first quarter.
As a result, the grocer maintained its forecast for retail adjusted operating profit of at least £2.8bn ($3.6bn) for 2024/25, up from £2.76bn in 2023/24.
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