Tesco’s boss Philip Clarke seemed on relaxed form this morning. The Christmas like-for-like performance, up 1.8%, is the strongest its been for three years and - while a different reporting period - is higher than competitors Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

“We were on form this Christmas”, Clarke said.

He says more targeted promotions, better stores and improved online led to the performance, alongside a renewed enthusiasm within the business.

Tesco has definitely made progress in its core food division. It’s been a tough year since Tesco’s disastrous performance last Christmas. And Clarke has taken no prisoners. While has has also had to deal with issues such as its US business, he has piled on the pressure on the UK team to turnaround the domestic business.

But quite rightly, Clarke says he isn’t getting carried away by six weeks of performance against weak comparisons and there is a lot more to do. Newly appointed UK MD Chris Bush will be piling on the pressure just as much as Clarke.

While the UK will remain a focus for Clarke this year, multichannel will become a bigger weapon in its armoury. Click and collect - its drive through model - accounted for 5% of grocery orders over Christmas. While Clarke said he thought it was a “mad idea” to begin with, he was willing to give it a try and it has worked. The costs to the business are obviously much lower than home delivery too.

Trying new ideas in multichannel is essential. He has drafted in Robin Terrell from House of Fraser as new multichannel boss and is clearly investing heavily. The fusion of online and stores is key to success and Tesco is gunning to get ahead.

Tesco still has lots more to do - both in the UK and abroad - but it is clearly in a different place to 12 months ago and competitors will be feeling a lot more nervous.

Topics