Tesco is to invest more in dot-com only stores in densely populated areas in the coming year. In its results for the year, the group said: “We are planning significant improvements across all of our dot-com businesses, building on our strong base and anticipating further migration of customer shopping habits online. We are increasing our capital investment in this area to around £150m in 2012/13.”
Last year it added a fourth dot-com-only store at Enfield, introduced an enhanced Tesco Direct web site and product offer and rolled out Click & Collect to 774 stores for non-food and 45 for grocery.
It said that plans to roll-out dot-com grocery operations across its markets, initially with a focus on capitals and other large cities – had made good progress. A new operation in Prague, which began in January was already trading ahead of expectations and a second continental operation, in Warsaw, is due to be launched soon.
Chief executive Philip Clarke said: “We are also focusing our lower overall capital expenditure more into our existing stores and in building our online businesses. We are adapting our UK capital plans so that we have the right store base for the future, to underpin the returns that create long term value for our shareholders.
“Together these steps are the right things to do both to improve the shopping trip for customers and to secure a return to profitable growth in the UK.”