Tesco to trial non-food stores

Supermarket group Tesco today announced plans to trial non-food stores this year.

The UK-based retailer confirmed a report saying it was planning to open an outlet in 2005 that would sell just non-food products such as clothing, electrical goods, CDs and DVDs.

The group said it was too early to say where the shop would be or when it would open.

It also declined to say whether a successful trial could pave the way for a UK-wide network of stores selling just non-food products, which have been highly successful in its existing shops.

A spokeswoman said: “We will trial a non-food store at some point this year. We will just have to see how it goes.”

Analysts expect Tesco to confirm its position as the UK’s leading supermarket retailer when it releases an update on Christmas trading on Tuesday.

The group is tipped to reveal like-for-like sales growth excluding petrol of slightly more than 10% for the four weeks to January 2.

Such figures would contrast with struggling rival Sainsbury’s, which this week said like-for-like sales in the four weeks to January 1 had fallen 0.4%.

Tesco has boosted its dominance of the UK supermarket scene by diversifying into new product areas and launching a range of store formats aimed at different sectors of the market.

As well as its conventional superstores, its Express convenience stores and its Metro city centre outlets, the group now has about 100 Tesco Extra shops, which stock a relatively large range of non-food products.

The Tesco spokeswoman said the success of the Extra stores was behind the group’s decision to launch an entirely non-food outlet.

“Our non-food ranges are really popular and this is just an example of us doing what customers want and trialling new things,” she said.

Today’s report in the Sunday Times quoted Tesco’s marketing director Tim Mason as saying the concept of non-food stores had become “too big an opportunity to ignore”.

The report claimed the trial would take place within months and that the non-food stores would be opened in out-of-town retail parks.

The group has reportedly examined both a gradual introduction and the purchase of a struggling retailer to obtain the space it needs for the outlets, which could be as big as 40,000 square feet.