Why do Tesco insist on giving me money?

Azari

I can't quite work out the commercial sense here.

I shop in Tesco just about once a week. Usually around the £40-£50 mark. Every year there is a period of a few weeks where I get two or three '£7 off if you spend £50' vouchers.

I don't understand what they are trying to achieve here.

I use them just about every week, so there is no reason they need to build 'loyalty', and the amount I need to spend is around the amount I spend every week so they are not really encouraging me to try new things to pad out the bill so the voucher is valid.

This is not, of course, a complaint, but I wonder if anyone has any idea what they are aiming for.

Elle7

It doesn't cost them anything, but it makes you more likely to shop at Tesco. They'll make enough on profit from you weekly to not notice the reduction. You'll carry on going to Tesco rather then deciding to try Sainsburys etc, because you have vouchers, or because they'll send you vouchers.

Just keeping their regular customers sweet, I guess!

david39

If you are talking about till-spits - the vouchers that come out of the tills with your sales receipt - then I find that they get issued if you go in mid-week and just spend a few pounds. It's as if to say "Come back at the weekend for your big shop and you'll save a fortune."

There doesn't seem to be a link, via ClubCard possibly, to associate the small top-up purchase with the fact that you shop there every week for a large range of goods.

Also - you don't get till-spits out of the self-service tills. I would have thought that if the above was a correct assumption then a Save £7 on £50 voucher would be exactly the place to issue these as most sales through these tills are just top-up purchases of only a few items.

NiallB

They have to do something with all the profit they make from poor Mapap, they've decided you deserve it more than he does.

(See other threads)

:cool:

Azari

Bumping this because I have just had my fifth £7 off voucher.

That's £35 they've given me and I'm now really well stocked on non-perishables.

All it means from their POV is that I will spend a little less over the coming months because I'm so well stocked.

I really can't understand this.

Elle7 wrote: »

It doesn't cost them anything,

Yes it does, it's cost them £35.

but it makes you more likely to shop at Tesco.

No it won't as I always shop there. (As it's a very large out of town Tesco that I happen to be able to walk to.) They know that because I use my clubcard.

pendulum

Azari wrote: »

Yes it does, it's cost them £35.

Erm, no. It's arguably cost them the mark-up on the items you'd have spent the £35 on, but it certainly hasn't cost them £35.

Surely you appreciate these free vouchers Tesco are giving you which you are using to stock up on 'free items' with? If so, there's your answer. As Elle said, it's to keep their existing customers happy. And it works.

They don't know that you will never go somewhere else.

DCFC79

Wy not give it to a friend/neighbour

Azari

pendulum wrote: »

Erm, no. It's arguably cost them the mark-up on the items you'd have spent the £35 on, but it certainly hasn't cost them £35.

#
Sorry, you are wrong.

Yo are thinking of the situation when they tempt a new customer of tempt an existing customer to spend on what they would not otherwise have bought. In that case, they will have given up some margin but that will have been offset by the possibility of attracting a new customer or getting a current customer to spend more in future.

In this instance, however, the £35 comes straight from the bottom line. Had they not given me these vouchers, they would have been £35 better off at the end of some period. (When the stocked up items have been used up.)

Surely you appreciate these free vouchers Tesco are giving you which you are using to stock up on 'free items' with? If so, there's your answer. As Elle said, it's to keep their existing customers happy. And it works.

Yes, I appreciate them. That does not diminish my interest in why they are behaving in such a cock-a-mamy fashion. One of these vouchers every 3-4 months would be a lot more effective than five in a row.

They don't know that you will never go somewhere else.

But surely it should occur to them that dishing out one of these vouchers every few months is much more likely to keep a customer coming back than issuing them all in one go once a year. (As soon as they stop I know, from the patterm over the last few years, that I won't get any more until next summer so I may as well shop eleswhere - if I wanted to.)

Azari

DCFC79 wrote: »

Wy not give it to a friend/neighbour

LOL, I'm not objecting to the vouchers, I just want to understand the commercial sense of them.

Unfortunately, no one has yet come close to supplying a credible answer.

fannyvart

Why don't you phone them and ask...?

VT82

david39 wrote: »

Also - you don't get till-spits out of the self-service tills.

Is this definitely true? I always use the self service as then I don't have to be embarassed about asking for Green Clubcard Points, but it I'm missing out on vouchers, I might need to reconsider.