In this case, the brand name "Tesco" is a strange decision.

It is a globally
recognized brand that can be argued that it immediately gives buyers confidence,
regardless of the country in which they are buying, because they know that what
they are buying is of good quality at a good price. They went further by creating a
whole new look for the stores themselves, think clinically, because the interior
design and size of the stores were smaller than conventional American
supermarkets and larger than traditional convenience stores. So the size of its
stores became more of a rarity than an attraction in the American market.
It appears that Tesco was not only determined to challenge existing US players in
the market, but also intended to change the purchasing habits of American
consumers. Changing habits tends to be difficult and expensive because the crucial
factor is time, the ability to stay in the market while the message is transmitted,
consumed and sinks, leading to the required change in habits.
Changes for the consumer included:
Self-service checkouts when American consumers are known to value service
highly and are used to having people around to pack their purchases and, in some
cases, carry it to their car, leading to a much-cited joke: `` It's not very cool and
easy. '' ;
Offer small packages when US consumers were used to buying in bulk to save
money;
Offering prepackaged, British-style ready meals is an alien concept to American
consumers whose only experience was the "television" meals of the 1950s that had
a bad reputation and were far from popular with today's consumers and diet foods.
The unfortunate timing of Tesco's launch coinciding with the subprime mortgage
crisis meant that these foods would never be at the top of struggling families'
shopping lists.
Shrink wrapped food packaging, which means that customers could not feel the
fruit they were buying or buy, for example a single onion. This was due to a
misconception about consumer health and hygiene concerns;
Placing all of their deals and coupons online rather than in-store, this was
diametrically opposed to the existing price-sensitive consumer preference, which
was to have such things available in-store.
Also, the homegrown competition was not far behind and did nothing in response
to the Fresh & Easy launch. "Aldi USA", part of the German discount store,
announced that it would open a number of stores in California and "Walmart" hired
a former Tesco executive to devise a strategy that would allow it to compete in
Fresh & Easy's market of choice. . Walmart also followed Fresh & Easy 'with
smaller convenience stores in the neighborhoods.
So it's probably fair to say that Tesco was too ambitious, and one wonders how
they "reality tested" their overall strategy before launching. It seems that its cost
was from the beginning, since they expected it to cost around $ 350 million a year.
At the end of the first year they discovered that this projection was very far away.
It is normal practice when launching into a new market to expect a flow of
"learning opportunities" during the first few months as mistakes are made and a
greater understanding of the market is gained through customer feedback and other
means.