Shame on Tesco - Removing Irish Brands from its Stores

Brenan · 24-04-2009 8:12pm #1

Tesco Ireland are currently in the process of switching its source of international brands from Irish suppliers to UK suppliers to reduce retail prices in its Irish stores and basically bypass the Irish supplier and of course this is something that Tesco have every right to do.

However, very little media reports have highlighted that the key issue is that Tesco are now removing Irish brands from its stores to make room for a bigger range of International brands.

Tesco have already started removing Irish brands and Irish manufactured products from their stores in border areas such as Dundalk and Sligo, and I am reliably informed that a very large percentage of Irish brands and Irish manufactured products are to be removed from ALL Tesco stores over the coming weeks.

The information I have is that Tesco new policy is: products currently ranged in Tesco Ireland, but not in Tesco UK (Irish brands specific to Ireland), are to be replaced by a suitable Tesco UK alternative product.

As Tesco represent around 25% of the grocery market in Ireland, this new policy is a disaster for Irish food producers and I am sure this will lead to massive redundancies in the food industry in this country.

I work with a large food producer in the Republic and I am very concerned about my job as are my colleagues. On the George Hook radio show yesterday, Dermot Breen – Corporate Affairs Director of Tesco Ireland clearly said that Tesco are not currently removing Irish brands from their stores and replacing them with International brands, however this is in fact happening now.

I know for a fact that Tesco are working off profit margins in the Republic that far exceed their profit margins in the UK, so maybe Tesco need to look closer at reducing retail prices by reducing their profit margins instead of making Irish producers suffer further.

Guy:Incognito · 24-04-2009 8:15pm

What do people want?

Its a simple fact, it costs more to produce and sell thing shere, so people moan about high prices and say how they are cheaper in a foreign country (the uk) , so they (Tesco) go elswhere for produce. It cant work both ways.

road_high · 24-04-2009 8:18pm

I think they might be under estimating the loyalty of Irish buyers to their own brands that they know and love.

Guy:Incognito · 24-04-2009 8:30pm

mfitzy wrote: »

I think they might be under estimating the loyalty of Irish buyers to their own brands that they know and love.

The people that all buy in British shops?

mogdog · 24-04-2009 8:42pm

dont see the prob , if an irish firm cant supply goods cheaper then an english of a french one ( considering cost of transport etc ) . long and short of it is simple if the irish cant compete eg: price wise with its eu counterpart , where would u shop ?? or do you even look to see where goods are sourced from ?.

GerardKeating · 24-04-2009 8:46pm

Brenan wrote: »

Tesco Ireland are currently in the process of switching its source of international brands from Irish suppliers to UK suppliers to reduce retail prices in its Irish stores and basically bypass the Irish supplier and of course this is something that Tesco have every right to do.

However, very little media reports have highlighted that the key issue is that Tesco are now removing Irish brands from its stores to make room for a bigger range of International brands.

Tesco have already started removing Irish brands and Irish manufactured products from their stores in border areas such as Dundalk and Sligo, and I am reliably informed that a very large percentage of Irish brands and Irish manufactured products are to be removed from ALL Tesco stores over the coming weeks.

The information I have is that Tesco new policy is: products currently ranged in Tesco Ireland, but not in Tesco UK (Irish brands specific to Ireland), are to be replaced by a suitable Tesco UK alternative product.

As Tesco represent around 25% of the grocery market in Ireland, this new policy is a disaster for Irish food producers and I am sure this will lead to massive redundancies in the food industry in this country.

I work with a large food producer in the Republic and I am very concerned about my job as are my colleagues. On the George Hook radio show yesterday, Dermot Breen – Corporate Affairs Director of Tesco Ireland clearly said that Tesco are not currently removing Irish brands from their stores and replacing them with International brands, however this is in fact happening now.

I know for a fact that Tesco are working off profit margins in the Republic that far exceed their profit margins in the UK, so maybe Tesco need to look closer at reducing retail prices by reducing their profit margins instead of making Irish producers suffer further.

Can you site a single source for this, esp since Tesco actualy deny it.

Also is this a relevant topic for this forum, since it would involve them lowering prices, better suited to Conspiricy theories maybe

jhegarty · 24-04-2009 8:51pm

GerardKeating wrote: »

Can you site a single source for this, esp since Tesco actualy deny it.

Also is this a relevant topic for this forum, since it would involve them lowering prices, better suited to Conspiricy theories maybe

It was on newstalk last night.

Tesco said it was complete bull , and pointed out they buy more irish food for export than France does.

All Irish shops will still buy through Dublin , and that they are just moving the office that buys for intentional shops.

Moosh10 · 24-04-2009 8:52pm

Well i can confirm that the this comment is completely accurate. Tesco has no shame, yes they will provide cheaper goods by sourcing from outside ireland, but they actually could have provided cheaper goods all along by not taking such big margins. Instead they creamed money from both the irish manufacturers & irish consumers. Now they are spining the story to make it look like they are the good guy.
Trust me a lot of well known brands are being removed from shelves and it will ultimately cost irish jobs!

GerardKeating · 24-04-2009 9:01pm

Moosh10 wrote: »

Well i can confirm that the this comment is completely accurate. Tesco has no shame, yes they will provide cheaper goods by sourcing from outside ireland, but they actually could have provided cheaper goods all along by not taking such big margins. Instead they creamed money from both the irish manufacturers & irish consumers. Now they are spining the story to make it look like they are the good guy.
Trust me a lot of well known brands are being removed from shelves and it will ultimately cost irish jobs!

Ohh look, another first time poster who "knows"...

Fluffybums · 24-04-2009 9:03pm

Crying out loud, bl**dy sick of this gouging whinging. People generally shop at Tescos because it is cheaper than the other supermarkets here, excluding Lidl and Aldi. If Tesco is gouging what the hell are the rest up to!
The issue is that Tesco is a UK company.
Well they are addressing the issue of percieved gouging by by-passing the Irish suppliers because they can lower prices by supplying the same stock as they do in their UK stores and guess what ........ that isn't good enough.
Before complaining about the retailer, look at where the extra costs arise in Ireland.

Oh and before someone mentions the £3bn profit they made last year, remember they are not a charity but a business and businesses make money and make profit. Most of that profit will have been made in their UK stores where they have to work in a competitive market, with the likes of Sainsbury, Waitrose, Morrisons, and Asda (part of the US WalMart group) as well as Lidl and Aldi.

Personally if Tesco is cheaper and stocks everything I need I will shop there, can't afford not to. If you are worried about Irish jobs, don't shop at Tesco simple.

mayordenis · 24-04-2009 9:06pm

Bleh I buy pretty much everything in the market in Cork city so I can was my hands of this kind of nonsense.
/careface

mogdog · 24-04-2009 9:07pm

fluffybums take a bow , oh as this is my 2md post does the sarcastic remark by keating apply to me ? , not knowing if im in the know or knot lol

ELP · 24-04-2009 9:20pm

my OH works for an irish food manufacturing company and all of there jobs are in jeperody- tesco are switching from some of their brands to uk branded grocery products - companies are afraid to speak out about the cuts in case all of their lines get de-listed. Before christmas tesco switched from buying off of irish distributors and went straight to the uk manufacturer, this does make commericial sense- i.e. you can buy the same branded product cheaper elsewhere by cutting out the middleman but now this week they have crossed the line - they are blatently switching from irish manufactured produts (companies that employ and keep employment in this country) in favour of UK branded products.

ccosgrave · 24-04-2009 9:24pm

Damn, looks like I'll be switching grocery shops then

All my Tesco club points going to waste!

Brenan · 24-04-2009 9:29pm

The problem is that it looks like Tesco have started to make a sweeping move against all Irish Food brands this week. They have already started removing a huge number of Irish produced products from a range of different Irish manufacturers from its border stores such as Dundalk, Sligo, etc. and I am told these plans are to be rolled out to the whole country over the next few weeks.

I don’t accept that all Irish manufacturers are uncompetitive versus their UK counterparts. It is true that it can cost more to produce in Ireland as we are a small country and Irish manufacturers that produce for the Irish market don’t have the economies of scale that a UK producer would have and of course the Sterling/Euro exchange rate versus previous years hasn’t helped the cause of Irish manufacturers competing against UK producers

I accept that getting cheaper retail prices is very important, but should this be at the expense of Irish brands/Irish Manufacturing and Irish Jobs. It will be very sad day if this move from Tesco leads to further manufacturing moving out of Ireland at the very time we need it most. I do hope that Irish consumers put pressure on Tesco to retain the range of Irish brands.

Yes, Tesco have denied all of this in the Media, but believe me, it is happening.

Jhegerty, Tesco might buy more Irish food for export than France does. But what price are they buying if for?? They have used their position in the market to pressurise small Irish producers to reduce their margins down to near nothing and now this extra blow will put a lot of Irish companies out of business

Tesco ARE removing Irish brands from their stores. By the way, Keating, this is my first post as it’s the first time I have felt strongly enough about something to get on and write a post

ejmaztec · 24-04-2009 9:38pm

I bet they're not removing Irish brands from their other European stores e.g. Kerrygold.

Until there's a source from the OP, it's poppycock.

ELP · 24-04-2009 9:49pm

the last price survey carried out by the national consumer aency found that "On a basket of 83 common items, the survey shows that Dunnes Stores is the cheapest at €292.48. Superquinn is within a cent of Dunnes Stores at €292.49. Tesco is now the most expensive multiple with the basket of 83 items costing €296.08"
This survey was carried out AFTER tesco cut out the middle-man irish distributor. Dunnes still use the expensive irish middle man and managed to be cheaper than tesco who are switching suppliers in order to get the price down for the consumer! I accept that they are not a charity and are thereto m ake money but its about time that they quit saying they are swith suppliers in order to lower prices for the consumer. They don't care about the consumer only the shareholder. Also in that survey, the NCA foun that"Prices for separate baskets from Tesco, Dunnes and Superquinn all recorded an increase in the period from December 2007 to January 2009. Tesco recorded the largest increase, Superquinn the smallest" - this at a time when tesco were the only supermarket bypassing the irish middleman and sourcing directlyfrom the UK where possible on price issues - I'll continue shopping in Dunnes - as they say "The difference is we're Irish"

ejmaztec · 24-04-2009 10:27pm

ELP wrote: »

the last price survey carried out by the national consumer aency found that "On a basket of 83 common items, the survey shows that Dunnes Stores is the cheapest at €292.48. Superquinn is within a cent of Dunnes Stores at €292.49. Tesco is now the most expensive multiple with the basket of 83 items costing €296.08"
This survey was carried out AFTER tesco cut out the middle-man irish distributor. Dunnes still use the expensive irish middle man and managed to be cheaper than tesco who are switching suppliers in order to get the price down for the consumer! I accept that they are not a charity and are thereto m ake money but its about time that they quit saying they are swith suppliers in order to lower prices for the consumer. They don't care about the consumer only the shareholder. Also in that survey, the NCA foun that"Prices for separate baskets from Tesco, Dunnes and Superquinn all recorded an increase in the period from December 2007 to January 2009. Tesco recorded the largest increase, Superquinn the smallest" - this at a time when tesco were the only supermarket bypassing the irish middleman and sourcing directlyfrom the UK where possible on price issues - I'll continue shopping in Dunnes - as they say "The difference is we're Irish"

I think they all care about the shareholders and not the consumer. Is there a profit-making corporation on the planet that doesn't follow this line? It would be interesting to know how many Irish shareholders Tesco has. I would say that the number is far in excess of Dunnes, Superquinn, Musgrave and all of its franchises.

I understood that Tesco only recently notified the media that they were sourcing "international" brands from the UK, so when was the survey carried out?

I don't mind Tesco being in Ireland, it forces the others to compete. If Ireland hadn't started out as a high profit market, Tesco would never have ventured into the country. I think that the reason for their steering clear of the German market, for example, is that stuff there is a hell of a lot cheaper than here or the UK.

gman2k · 24-04-2009 10:39pm

Brenan wrote: »

... I am reliably informed...

...Dermot Breen – Corporate Affairs Director of Tesco Ireland clearly said that Tesco are not currently removing Irish brands from their stores and replacing them with International brands, however this is in fact happening now....

...I know for a fact that Tesco.....

So you know things for a fact - yet no back up, and Dermot Breen is on the radio telling fibs?

ELP · 24-04-2009 10:44pm

Price survey was carried out last February - The suday business post reported on tesco switching to UK suppliers last december.

Shelflife · 24-04-2009 10:47pm

I think they all care about the shareholders and not the consumer. Is there a profit-making corporation on the planet that doesn't follow this line?

your correct in that, the difference between tesco and the rest of the irish supermarkets is the sheer size of tesco, they are HUGE and the power they wield over their suppliers is immense.

the fact that they now may be removing irish products from their shelves doesnt suprise me, its opportunistic and typical of tesco.

gman2k · 24-04-2009 10:49pm

ELP wrote: »

I'll continue shopping in Dunnes - as they say "The difference is we're Irish"

The Difference is
Dunnes is a privately owned company owned in general by one extended family. We don't know how much profit they make, or their turnover.
I think it would be fair to say they have a history of being tough with their Irish suppliers/ distributors.
Tesco is a PLC, so you could be a part owner of them, doesn't matter what country you're from/ nationality etc., and their accounts are published (albeit they don't give breakdowns for Irish operations)
This waving the Irish banner/ shamrock etc is nonsense, unless you you feel that supporting the Dunne family business is patriotic.
(PS - do Dunnes still have Spanish interests?)

Kristopherus · 24-04-2009 10:56pm

Where is the wonderful Mary Coughlan when we need her

:D:D

ELP · 24-04-2009 11:01pm

too busy licking her wounds - john mcguinness slated her earlier this evening on the late late!

ejmaztec · 24-04-2009 11:04pm

Shelflife wrote: »

I think they all care about the shareholders and not the consumer. Is there a profit-making corporation on the planet that doesn't follow this line?

your correct in that, the difference between tesco and the rest of the irish supermarkets is the sheer size of tesco, they are HUGE and the power they wield over their suppliers is immense.

the fact that they now may be removing irish products from their shelves doesnt suprise me, its opportunistic and typical of tesco.

These days I prefer Dunnes, but if I were in Tesco and noticed that they were not selling a particular item, I would contact them and ask them to get it. So far, they've always come up with the goods.

I think that if anyone notices that something is no longer stocked, then they should ask Tesco to get it or else! Have a David and Goliath moment:D.

wmpdd3 · 24-04-2009 11:08pm

Work in Tesco, haven't seen any Irish produced product discontinued / replaced.

But when a new Tesco branded product comes in and undercuts the branded product you can bet your bottom dollar it flies off the shelves.

"Tesco have already started removing Irish brands and Irish manufactured products from their stores in border areas such as Dundalk and Sligo"

Not surprised, seems nobody was buying them anyway. Only have to look on the bargain alert thread to see the items being bought in the north.

Off topic but....But are all those Irish sounding 'brands' in Lidl and Aldi actually made / sourced in the republic?

Hagar · 24-04-2009 11:11pm

Does anyone else remember Tesco pledging to maintain the percentage of goods it sells supplied by Irish suppliers ? At the time it was 42%.
Nobody else remembers that? Funnily enough Tesco were relying on your short term memory.
Wasn't Corrie great tonight? Poor Jade Goody, wasn't she a saint? Aren't we all looking forward to a great performance by the British Lions? Let's all play Sun Bingo tommorrow.

Brenan · 24-04-2009 11:31pm

wmpdd3, my point is that Tesco are starting to remove a substantial number of Irish brands and Irish manufactured products from their stores, they are already doing this in their border stores (this is fact, any Irish supplier will tell you this), they are not as you say removing products that nobody was buying anyway, they are removing volume Irish sellers and replacing with volume UK sellers.

I am very surprised that you dont know this considering you work with Tesco??

Guy:Incognito · 25-04-2009 12:16am

Brenan wrote: »

The problem is that it looks like Tesco have started to make a sweeping move against all Irish Food brands this week. They have already started removing a huge number of Irish produced products from a range of different Irish manufacturers from its border stores such as Dundalk, Sligo, etc. and I am told these plans are to be rolled out to the whole country over the next few weeks.

I don’t accept that all Irish manufacturers are uncompetitive versus their UK counterparts. It is true that it can cost more to produce in Ireland as we are a small country and Irish manufacturers that produce for the Irish market don’t have the economies of scale that a UK producer would have and of course the Sterling/Euro exchange rate versus previous years hasn’t helped the cause of Irish manufacturers competing against UK producers

I accept that getting cheaper retail prices is very important, but should this be at the expense of Irish brands/Irish Manufacturing and Irish Jobs. It will be very sad day if this move from Tesco leads to further manufacturing moving out of Ireland at the very time we need it most. I do hope that Irish consumers put pressure on Tesco to retain the range of Irish brands.

Yes, Tesco have denied all of this in the Media, but believe me, it is happening.

Jhegerty, Tesco might buy more Irish food for export than France does. But what price are they buying if for?? They have used their position in the market to pressurise small Irish producers to reduce their margins down to near nothing and now this extra blow will put a lot of Irish companies out of business

Tesco ARE removing Irish brands from their stores. By the way, Keating, this is my first post as it’s the first time I have felt strongly enough about something to get on and write a post

Why exactly do you think Tesco have some obligation to Irish producers? They are a British Company, if anything they should be doing all they can to support British jobs.

Should Dunnes in the North and Spain only stock Britsih/Spanish goods?

ongarite · 25-04-2009 11:17am

Brenan wrote: »

wmpdd3, my point is that Tesco are starting to remove a substantial number of Irish brands and Irish manufactured products from their stores, they are already doing this in their border stores (this is fact, any Irish supplier will tell you this), they are not as you say removing products that nobody was buying anyway, they are removing volume Irish sellers and replacing with volume UK sellers.

I am very surprised that you dont know this considering you work with Tesco??

Until somebody here on this thread can actually name ANY of the Irish products being removed from sale in Tesco, this is all a load of heresay and scaremongering.

Churu · 25-04-2009 11:27am

I would be sorry if they discontinue some products which have a fair price....

Now with regards to other products. I would be very happy if they do it. Specially with potatoes. I am really sick of paying €4 to get a bag full of rotten potatoes.

Shame on Tesco - Removing Irish Brands from its Stores

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