Local businesses throughout the UK are struggling to survive as Tesco moves into their towns, but it doesn’t have to be the case, hardworking entrepreneurial small business can compete with Tesco and thrive. Here’s 12 ways to take on Tesco.

1. Offer better service – ok just about every book, magazine or pundit will tell you this, but really are you honestly offering better service? Do your staff smile and greet people? Do you offer advice and helpful assistance, are your staff well mannered?
2. Open early, late or at lunch – the majority of the population works Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:30 so be open before 09:00 and after 17:30 and don’t shut at lunch, after all if you’re shut on Sunday when I do my weekly shop, no matter how much I’d prefer to buy from you I can’t.
3. Offer value added services – This could take the form of free recipes around the shop (do this right and you’re not only providing a benefit to the consumer, but can also up sell them the other ingredients), offer dieting guides for those looking to lose weight, those with allergies or food intolerances.
4. Provide demonstrations or workshops – show customers something interesting, perhaps how to carve food:

   

   As we all like to show off to our friends when we cook for them.

5. Sell an experience – make shopping at your store an experience, much like Farrington’s does with it’s baby barn where customers see and touch calves, lambs, guinea pigs and rabbits, to the milking parlour where children see where milk comes from.
6. Promote a cause – align yourselves with a cause that you believe in and that will appeal to your customers, this concept has worked well for Starbucks with Fairtrade coffee.
7. Have a Point of Difference – make sure you differentiate your offering for example only sell local produce or organic produce. The BodyShop did this by never selling products tested on animals.
8. Leverage their marketing – use their marketing and their name to get yourself in the local press, read the excellent book Marketing Judo to find out how.
9. Offer choices that Tesco can’t – Tesco will never be able to offer specialist products that cater to specifics of the local markets by the nature of being a big business it just doesn’t have the flexibility, just look at the rise of the specialist deli’s throughout Britain for an example of this in action.
10. Offer incentives to get customers through the door – There’s nothing to stop the small retailer offering incentives to get shoppers through the door, and while Tesco’s incentives are limited to low prices they can be as imaginative as a small business. For example a baker could offer to trade in old for new on a loaf of bread, while you’ll no doubt lose money on the loaf most shoppers will buy something else while in the shop bringing the overall sale up to a level of profit.
11. Loyalty schemes – these don’t have to be limited to the supermarkets. Print some simple cards, get a cheap stamp and offer one free for every 10 purchased or free bottle of wine back for ever £100 spent – be inventive think of what will attract your customers and ideally have a higher value to them than it cost to you.
12. Home Deliveries – most of the top supermarkets offer home deliveries, yet I’d never trust them as I know some bored kid will pick out the poor quality bruised fruit etc, so offer a home delivery service with a guarantee that you’ll replace anything I’m not happy with – then make sure there’s never anything I’m unhappy with.

I’m sure there are many more ways for the small business to take on the likes of Tesco so please add your ideas (comment) below. If you’re a small business trying to compete with Tesco then visit the about page and drop me an email I’d love the hear how you’re getting on and I’ll be happy to expand on the ideas above and others that I have.

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