Serving customers, communities and planet a little better every day – a report setting out Tesco’s economic and social impact

Global Counsel acted as research partners for Tesco to produce a report and bespoke economic analysis outlining the economic and social impact of the UK’s largest retailer.

Over the last century, Tesco has become the UK’s largest retailer, with close to 3,800 stores and around 300,000 employees. Global Counsel worked with Tesco to assess and clearly communicate the size of the economic and social contribution which has come with this national footprint.

At the heart of the work was a bespoke economic model created by Global Counsel. We estimated that Tesco adds around £55.5 billion to the UK economy, accounting for customers shopping in Tesco’s stores, Tesco’s spending with its network of over 3,400 UK suppliers and how staff in it supply chain spend their wages. Using Tesco’s store-level data, we were able to examine what this means at the local level, estimating the company’s economic impact in the 648 parliamentary constituencies in which it has a presence and creating bespoke briefings for every MP.

Producing the report was also an exercise in bringing together Tesco’s dispersed data across its operations to create a compelling narrative which not only sets out the scale of Tesco’s impact but how its approach has been shaped by its history and values. The report is structured around Tesco’s core purpose: “serving our customers, communities and planet a little better every day”. It is a product that clearly demonstrates Tesco’s work and impacts in each of these areas:

• For Tesco’s customers: the report details how Tesco has stayed competitive on price and how the company has evolved to meet customers’ needs as other high street businesses, like banks and pharmacies, have closed.
• For communities: the report brings together Tesco’s data on grants to show the scale of its support and uses case studies to show what this impact means for communities. The report also shows the scale of Tesco’s employment impact – employing 1 in every 100 workers – and Tesco’s support for its staff.
• For the planet: the report shows how Tesco leads the industry, through the ambition of its targets, procuring 100% of its electricity from renewable sources and through providing the largest EV charging network of any UK retailer.

Stephen Adams, Global Counsel's Senior Director, said:

“The task of mapping and quantifying the economic and social impact of a huge British company like Tesco is a formidable one. But it is also a fascinating exercise in understanding how a modern British retailer shapes the wider British economy and its communities through its supply chain, employment effects and customer propositions. Our UK team were delighted to be chosen as Tesco’s research partner on this work and the result is testimony to what they can do.”