Product Description

The story of the ferocious battle for supremacy of the four main supermarket chains in Britain - Sainsbury, Tesco, Safeway and Asda. There are dynasties in decline, upstarts coming of age and those who struggle by the wayside. The story of how Tesco came from brash beginnings to challenge and finally overtake the patrician Sainsbury as the market leader in 1995 stunned the retailing world, and raised the curtain on the dramatic rise of supermarket chains in the second half of the 20th century. Behind the bare statistics of roller coaster profits and changing market shares lies a deeper tale of social change, increasing power and clashes with Government and pressure groups. The huge buying power of the supermarket chains, and the growth of edge of town shopping with vast car parking, has destroyed many small high streets along with traditional butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers. Yet their growth has been fuelled by the increase in the numbers of working women who no longer have the time or inclination to shop by foot at small outlets. The result is a love/hate relationship with their customers. The fever of competition engendered by the heads of these companies cannot be underestimated. This book goes behind the checkout till and into the boardroom to discover the true story and show what will happen next. Click here to visit the author's website.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218799 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-29
• Released on: 2006-03-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

About the Author
Judi Bevan is a freelance business journalist, who has worked extensively for The Sunday Times and Telegraph. She is the author of the much-acclaimed, bestselling 'The Rise and Fall of Marks and Spencer', which won the WHSmith Business Book Award in 2002.

Customer Reviews

Readable
A very readable account of the "Big Four" British supermarket chains - Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons, along with the former Safeway. It reviews their individual histories, their battles along the way and the current balance of power between them.

A couple of minor criticisms: the book seems to just fade away at the end rather than coming to any definite conclusion - perhaps some speculation on where the British supermarket business goes from here would round the book off nicely. There is also little mention of the discounters - Aldi, Netto and Lidl - and their threat (or otherwise) to the Big Four. And perhaps some discussion of troubled Kwik Save could feature in a future revision. There could also be more mention of what happens overseas: how does the British experience compare with the supermarket story in (say) France, Germany, the USA and Australia?

Turf wars of a different kind!
Bevan's engaging writing style does make it sound like one fascinating drama. However, fictitious it is not. This is a very real and a very visible turf war between supermarkets which has been going-on for over a decade.

Currently, while Tesco and Asda are the main protagonists in the unfolding corporate drama; Sainsbury's too have come back into the fight. So if you want an insight into why bargain deals and all those mega offers from the major supermarkets are vying for your trolley space - this book should be on your reading list.

Having said so, it's very much an account of the big players and a very British account too. The Goliaths Vs Goliaths get a comprehensive mention - but the Davids Vs Goliaths - the smaller players vying for a slice of our spending budget only get a sort of cursory treatment. It's not quite in the league of Bevan's previous book - The Rise and Fall of Marks & Spencer in my opinion. Yet it's a very-very enjoyable one!