Can UK’s biggest grocer operate as well as its sharp German rivals at the cheapest end of the market?

What will Tesco’s discounter brand Jack’s look like?

UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday, September 16, 2018, 23:10 (GMT + 9)

Tesco is readying the launch of Jack’s, its much-anticipated discounter that will challenge Aldi and Lidl. Will it take the shape of its rivals or burrow into the identity of its parent brand?

Tesco declined to comment on any rumours regarding its new format, however the Guardian all but confirmed it would be called Jack’s after sending reporters to peek through the tarpaulin of the first store in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire. Other than the name, it’s unclear what shape the brand will take.

The look
The name is a nod to Tesco’s founder, Jack Cohen, and represents its thoroughly British heritage on the European battleground against Aldi and Lidl. The two German stalwarts both feature bright and arguably dated branding that rejects the flat and minimalist logo designs of modern brands; Tesco’s branding, while evolved, dates back to 1996.

The Tesco founder, Jack Cohen, and his wife, Sarah Fox, in 1968. Photograph: Stan Meagher/Getty Images

A crucial question surrounding Jack's launch is how far it will align itself with its parent's branding. For Mike Dodds, global president at Proximity Worldwide, Jack’s could reap rewards from borrowing from the Tesco brand book – namely, the immediate customer trust and comfort that well-known colours and lettering can bring.

“But borrow too much and you potentially have a negative impact on Tesco’s reputation just as it’s starting to recover well,” he added.

Rob Sellers, the managing director of Grey Shopper, reckons Jack’s visual language will be derived more from the ‘basics’ lines of supermarkets such as Waitrose than from its parent brand. As the shopping experience will be simple, he believes, so will the branding.

He added that the marketing team would be unwise to “dress things up as something special” especially when the business has the potential to cannibalise its own parent brand.

“My sense is it will be a simple, straightforward brand,” said Sellers. “That doesn't mean to say it hasn't been thought about, but it won't allow branding to get in the way of making things easy to choose.”

In any case, he added, “brand is a smaller function of success for this kind of business than it is for other kinds of business”.

The feel
In order for Jack’s to compete with Lidl and Aldi, its prices will have to be cheap. Tesco’s options for driving down price will be plentiful, but a more spartan shopping experience – and back-end operation – will certainly play a part.

“The reason they can't simply reduce prices [in mainline Tesco stores] is because operating those stores costs money,” explained Catherine Shuttleworth, chief executive of founder of retail and shopper marketing agency. “So [Jack’s] should be a really, really simple, easy to shop operation.” (Continue...)

Writen by By Katie Deighton/.thedrum.com | Read full story here

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