Introduction
TESCO was founded in 1919, and the founder was Jack Cohen. In the beginning. He just sold goods in an east London market.
The name “TESCO” first appeared in 1924, and the first shop was opened in London. And in 1947, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 1948, the first self-service shops for business. The first TESCO supermarket was opened in 1956 in Essex. The first “major” supermarket built-in 1968, is located in West Sussex. In 1974, TESCO began selling gasoline, and in 1979 its annual turnover is more than 1 billion pounds. 1975, the first senior department store opened. In 1997 the first large stores (Extra) opened. Tesco’s main purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty.
That made Tesco successful, and now it has become one of the most successful supermarkets in the world. ( www.tescocorporate.com/inside Tesco ) In recent years, environmental protection has become the most important subject in the world. Environmental protection is often mentioned in every area. And to be one of the most important parts of society, companies should have responsibility for the environment. So it has affected the company’s marketing strategy, and that increased pressure on the business. To be a successful supermarket company, TESCO has that responsibility.
I want to say something about the company’s environmental responsibility. So this essay will find out whether environmental responsibility will change their strategy and people’s attitude to Tesco in environmental protection.
Literature Review
Tesco believe in sustainable growth – “it is responsible, it is what our customers want and it makes good business sense. If we make decisions that are unsustainable, we may harm the world we all live in. Similarly, if we fail to minimize our environmental impacts, we will be inefficient and increase our costs. (www.tescocorporate.com/environment) Tesco divided that into 5 parts, Climate Change, Emissions, Resources, Waste & Recycling, and Our products. So we can see Tesco put environmental protection in an important place. As everyone knows, the supermarket is the place where people buy goods for their alive. And if supermarkets have an environmental responsibility in their marketing strategy, it’s effective in environmental protection. Recycling: During 2006/07, 71% of Tesco’s waste was recycled. And all of this included over 80% of paper, cardboard, and plastic.
Tesco said, “ to reduce further waste we send to landfill, in July 2006 we started supplying surplus food from 35 stores to the charity Fare Share, which distributes it to the needy”. (www.tescocorporate.com/environment) The air pollution: Tesco’s Decision to open “regional buying offices” to “increase local sourcing” and “cut food miles”, because of the cost and the effect to the environment, Tesco decided to “cut food miles” According to the most recent Defra figures, CO2 emissions caused by food transport for the UK have been rising.
Road and air food miles generated nearly 18m metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2004 – up 6% on the previous year. The increase followed a 15% rise in emissions over the decade to 2002 (www.guardian.co.uk/environment) “Green labels”: Green labels may transform food consumption, and Lucy Neville- Rolfe of British retailer Tesco said food’s green labeling shows the impact of the product on the environment can lead to major changes in consumption. Also, it’s a scheme that would have challenges, and if they were transported to Europe by air, seeking to provide a market for goods from the developing world which may be rated unfavorably. Packaging: Tesco has a problem that there’re too much unnecessary packaging of their products, like one pizza, the cost is 4. 49 pounds, but it is presented on a polystyrene tray, wrapped in clingfilm, inside a cumbersome cardboard box. “Tesco says it listens to customers, and it’s very good at pretending to do just that. But no one was prepared to take responsibility for a simple complaint about its packaging”. (www.independant.co.uk/environment)
As above, Tesco does its best for environmental protection and takes a good environment responsible for society.
In the recycling and the problem of air pollution and maybe some other problem, Tesco all take care of it. Though in packaging, there ‘re some defects in the environment. But it claimed that Tesco is successful in the environment. And in recent years, the consciousness of people in environmental protection become well, and Tesco should be an important choice when they go to the supermarket.
Primary Research Aims
To investigate the above, this study used a questionnaire to find out how aware people are of environmental issues when buying products and services.
I also sought to discover how people see about Tesco does in environmental protection. And also the results related to factors such as gender, nationality, and age.
Primary Research Sample
The subjects of the study were 20 international students from Brunel University. And they’re in different levels of education, 10 of the students are undergraduates while others are postgraduates. The students included four different country’s students, 14 from China, 4 from Thailand, 2from Saudi Arabia, and 2 from Korea. 14 of the students were male and 6 female. And the students ranged from 20-30 years of age.
All the students are international students, so most of them should go to Tesco for shopping, so they should have their ideas.
Primary Research Method
I gave the questionnaires to my classmates in the pre-sessional courses. And let them finish it. then I collect it up and organize it. I asked some information about personal background and attitudes and gather them by a survey. The survey included 3 personal information which are gender, age, and nationality. It also included 8 additional questions which are connected with the title.
Primary Research Results
According to the results of the questionnaire, I get some graphs as follows. Graph 1 shows the distribution of the samples’ age and gender. According to other questions, 9 people will be affected by their choice that which supermarket will go by environment protection. And only 5 people will reuse the plastic bags when they go to the supermarket. 16 people will mention the environment when they buy some products. And about Tesco’s attitude for the environment, 16 people will choose shopping there.
Discussion
Based on the results of my primary research Tesco is a very popular store, and it’s an important choice for people to go shopping. The service, convenient transportation, environment protection, choice of goods, and fair price all make Tesco became popular. Customers can reuse plastic bags in Tesco, which we mentioned in the past, Tesco pays themselves’ attention to the recycling of plastic bags. And according to the questionnaire, only 5 people will reuse plastic bags, and the trouble of taking bags from home may be the most reason for it.
And Tesco has a policy of the plastic bags, that if customers reuse plastic bags, they will be offered extra Clubcard points (www.bbc.co.UK/environment ). It appears that Tesco is committed to plastic bags. And in my opinion, people will reuse plastic bags when they face the policy. Also, 13 people think Tesco’s environment policy is good some don’t know. According to the results of the literature review, some aspect of Tesco’s environment protection is good, like local sourcing, reusing bags, some are bad, like unnecessary packaging, but all above, the environmental responsibility of Tesco is good, and nothing will be perfect.
Most people think that the prices and convenience are most important. Tesco needs to make customers more aware. Some people are aware, but more need to be. It is little surprise to me for the reason. When people go to supermarkets, the environment is not so important when they choose one, so people won’t pay more attention to the environment when they are in daily life, but don’t forget the media, if some company breaks the balance of the environment. I think people will all reject it. So the company must do its best to protect the environment.
Tesco does their best in environmental protection, they pay their attention to the weather, resources, emissions, waste & recycling, and green products. They have many policies to carry out their responsibility of protecting the environment. Tesco aims to apply the principle of sustainable development, meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations (www.tescocorporate.com). The Environment should be protected, it is important to become common knowledge, but when people go to the supermarket they won’t think many things about the environment.
According to the results of the questionnaire, people will consider first is price and transportation. Many people have the mentality that they should protect the environment, but when they living, they won’t mind so many things. But I think the lack of consciousness of environmental protection in people’s daily life, won’t make the department feel nervous, because that just takes a small proportion.
Conclusion
The finding of this study is about the increasing pressure on business that the company to be more environmentally responsible has affected the company’s marketing strategy.
Tesco is such a company and deals with it well. The company must take responsibility for environmental protection because they’re the important thing to buildup society. In my opinion, maybe it will take heavy pressure on them, but in the marketing strategy, it’s necessary, and the company will get further benefits for it. Also, the research has some limitations that all the samples are an international student at Brunel University, so they are not so good at it because the major limitation, and not all the students study business, so maybe the business strategy won’t affect them.
References
- www.tescocorporate.com
- www.guardian.co.uk/environment
- www.independant.co.uk/environment
- www.reuters.com/environment
Questionnaire
- What’s your gender?
Male______
Female______
- How old are you?
Under 18 _______
18-25______
26-35______
35-45________
above 45_______
- What’s your nationality? _______________________________________
- Do you know Tesco?
Yes________
No__________
- Will the environment protection measures affect your choice that which supermarket you should go?
Yes________
No___________
- Do you reuse plastic bags in the supermarket?
Yes_________
No___________
- How strongly do you think Tesco is in protecting the environment?
Excellent_______
Very Good______
Good__________
Fair _______
Bad____________
Don’t know _______________
- Which factor will you consider first when you choose which supermarket you will go?
Environment protection________
Convenient to get to ______
Choice of goods__________
Better services_________
Cheaper prices________
Other_______
- Do you often go to Tesco for shopping?
Yes__________
No_________
- Do you usually think about the environment when you buy something or use some products?
Yes___________
No___________
- If Tesco improved their attitude on the environment protection, would you choose to shop there?
Yes___________
No___________
- What do you think Tesco should improve in environment protection? _____________________________________________________
