In quotes: Tesco chiefs on the grocer’s accelerated turnaround plan

Group chief executive Philip Clarke:

“I’m now in my 40^th year at Tesco and I have not seen such change in all those years.”

“Words such as ‘biggest’ and ‘best’ are no longer admired since the banking crisis. Now it’s about being ‘better’.”

“Many of our competitors have done a good job. I would pick out Lidl, Aldi and Waitrose in particular. They have exploited their niches well and we do not ignore them.”  

Tesco UK managing director Chris Bush:

“Clubcard is the jewel in the crown and at the heart of all our plans”

“I was at our Finchley store recently talking to a customer, an 82-year old gentleman who had been a Tesco customer for many years. He said he does the majority of his shopping at Tesco but found it necessary to go up the road to Lidl for a few essentials, mostly in the produce department. He said the quality was nearly as good and the prices sharper. These items that are essential to all baskets are the ones we focusing our attention on in terms of making our prices sharper.”

Tesco multichannel director Robin Terrell:

“We will know when we’ve succeeded at becoming a multichannel leader when we don’t need a multichannel director any more.”

“No general merchandise business offers one hour delivery slots for every product – we will do this over time – for our products and those that choose to sell through our platform”

“The biggest barrier to online shopping is delivery charges and, starting with grocery, we will move to market leading delivery prices”

Tesco chief financial officer Laurie McIlwee:

“We can’t give a specific margin because there are some uncertainties. It would give a false sense of precision and we need the space to operate. We don’t want to be backed into a corner.”