
Some 30 per cent of Tesco’s direct suppliers said the supermarket rarely complied with the code, while four out of 100 said it never complied with the code of practice.
The confidential survey of over 1,000 supermarket suppliers was conducted by YouGov on behalf of the industry watchdog, the Groceries Code Adjudicator. It found that Tesco and Iceland were ranked as the worst of the major retailers ? 35 per cent of suppliers said that Iceland rarely or never complied with the code. Morrisons didn’t fare much better, with 32 per cent of its suppliers stating the same. More than half of all issues raised by suppliers in 2014 were regarding Tesco, followed by Morrisons with 26 per cent. While Tesco is the UK’s biggest retailer, with nearly 30 per cent of all grocery spending, the result still indicated that more than one in ten (11 per cent) of Tesco’s suppliers raised a complaint in the past year. Chief executive Dave Lewis joined the supermarket in 2014 after it weathered a troubled year, capped off by pre-tax losses of ?6.4bn ? the biggest annual loss in history. When the results were announced in April, he refused to blame past management, saying it wasn’t for him ?to talk about the history and I don’t see any benefit in doing that?. ?I’ve learnt you don’t make an assessment of somebody else’s situation that you weren’t in,? he added. Despite this demurral, Christine Tacon, who leads the GCA, said Tesco had made a ?big improvement? under Lewis (who goes by the nickname Drastic Dave), as the supplier complaints were down on last year. Read more on retail:- Should you open a retail outlet for your company?
- A third of new businesses could be pop ups by 2017
- Waitrose offers 20 per cent discount for loyal shoppers’ favourite items
Share this story