Competition Commission

[Oola]

Lately I have been bombarded with advertisements on the TV from Tesco. They are now doing some serious hard advertising with their new Tesco Direct business, as well as branching out to try and compete with the likes of GoCompare.com and offer a car insurance comparing service.

So I have to ask... what next? They seem to be just getting bigger and bigger and taking over each corner of every industry as they go. The more they branch out, the more money they get, and the more they monopolise. What next? Tesco Holidays (already got the insurance), Tesco Air Travel?! Tesco Housing Estates?!

How on earth are we going to stop them? It just seems to be breeding rabid consumerism, the apathetic view that if you want it, you can have it and just don't worry about the ethical and environmental impact.

[Pippa]

I agree Oola, they do appear to be taking over the world. Their buying power must be such that the prices are tempting for anyone on a strict budget or with large family. I live in a small village but Tesco is the nearest shop, which sounds odd. It is on the edge of a nearby town on the by-pass, we used to have 2 village shops and 2 petrol stations, long gone of course. I think price will always outsway quality and ethics. I have to drive about 20 miles to shop at Waitrose.

[jazzactivist]

I hate the way that Tesco is taking over, and they are so aggressive about putting local traders out of business. They deliberately position themselves and their free parking on major routes into towns so that people go there instead of right into town. The only thing that we can do is just never shop there or buy any of their goods, and encourage other people to do the same. There have been a few letters in my local paper recently complaining about Tesco using school premises for advertising. To promote their Computers for Schools scheme when a school gets anything from Tesco they have to agree to a big banner on the school fence near the gates which says TESCO in big letters and Computers for Schools in tiny ones. This shows that they are not interested in spending some of their profits on schools, just see it as buying more advertising space.

[CountryLady]

I think I mentioned this on the site that shall not be named(!) but sadly just after Tesco in our nearest town unveiled its plans to practically double the size of the store, the Co-Op have announced that they are closing down on the 6th of this month.
That to me is just terrible.

[Oola]

The question is, how on earth can they be stopped, or restricted? In Rosie Boycott's book 'Our Farm', a Tesco store decided to start work on building etc, despite not having full permission, but because of their might and power, nobody could really stop them. To me, it seems that Tesco have one rule, and everyone else has to abide by another.

[CountryLady]

Much as I hate the kind of "world domination" antics of Tesco I have to admit that I do shop there for items like washing powder, cat litter, cleaning stuff and other bulky items.
It's the only place where I can park nearby and not have to carry the heavy stuff too far. We used to have a Kwik Save and I shopped there (call me stingy) but that's closed down. The only other shop for general goods is the Co-Op and they don't have a car park or any where to park nearby. Probably why they're closing it.

[Oola]

Oh absolutely, of course Tesco has it's uses. For instance, I only like their vegetarian gravy, and the Tesco store in Bedford stocks a gorgeous and authentic chana masala spice mix for 59p in it's world food section. They're open all hours and if you need something and don't want to have to drive 8 miles into the nearest shopping town, you can probably get something similar to what you need there.

But they're monopolising the market..and it's scary!

[CountryLady]

I know. We need to stop giving in and using them though. Even though I try, I still end up in there as I've already said.

The more diverse they become, the more at risk our own jobs and livleyhoods become as they continue to swallow up everything in their way.

Those they don't take over also fail because they can't compete with them.