“Supermarket giant Tesco is continuing its advance into consumer electronics with a trial to hand over part of its store space to Apple, the computer company behind the iPod,” Fergus Sheppard reports for The Scotsman. “The retailer has struck a deal with California-based Apple to use part of its flagship Milton Keynes store as a dedicated area for the Apple products. It is the first time Tesco has given over a dedicated part of a store to a single, non-food brand. Managers at the supermarket chain are now considering rolling out the Apple area to other stores following positive reports from the Milton Keynes trial, which launched last month. A spokesman for Tesco said: ‘It is early days at the moment, but so far it has gone very well. We will continue to look at how the trial performs before deciding whether to roll it out.'”
“Tesco’s strategy revolves around being as strong in what it terms ‘non-food’ as in food sales. Aside from the weekly shop, the supermarket generates more than £6 billion a year in non-food areas, including electronics, home entertainment – for example DVDs and computer games – clothing and health and beauty. In consumer electronics, it has even started marketing an own-brand microwave,” Sheppard reports. “The iconic iPod is likely to prove one of the most profitable sellers from the supermarket’s tie-up with Apple. Ironically, Tesco’s first entry into digital music placed it into direct competition with iTunes and Apple. In November 2004, Tesco launched a digital download services for music fans which allowed them to download tracks for 79p each. However, the songs were in the Windows Media format made by Microsoft and were not compatible with iTunes or the iPod.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews reader “Dave H” for the link.]
“The supermarket is trialling the concept at its Milton Keynes store and will roll the concept out to other Tesco Extra stores nationwide if successful. The 120 sq ft area will not operate as a concession but will stock Apple computers and accessories, as well as smaller items such as iPods,” Mark Faithfull and José Riera report for Retail Week. “An Apple spokesperson added: ‘We are working to expand our relationship with Tesco. There are currently 150 Tesco stores selling iPods and the Milton Keynes store is the first to trial the combination of iPod and computer accessories in a dedicated space.’ Apple announced expansion of its European operations earlier this week, with standalone stores in Germany and Italy.”
Full article here.
[UPDATE 12:28pm EST: Added Retail Week information and changed headline to reflect possibilities of inclusion of Mac models.]
This is a big deal for Apple. Tesco has over 2,000 stores worldwide.
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Related article:
Tesco to start selling Apple iPods across the UK – May 20, 2005