THE supermarket giant Tesco yesterday denied it was creating a country of "Tesco towns" as it set out a robust defence against accusations it has a near-monopoly of the UK grocery market.
The group claimed in a 28-page document to the Competition Commission that the body's calculation methods and definition of "local" were flawed.
Tesco's report argued that markets should now be defined by a drive-time radius of 30 minutes or more - up to three times from the ten to 15 minutes used by the commission.
Far from dominating the supermarket sector in British towns and cities, 98.6 per cent of shoppers now have access to stores run by the five largest chains, according to Tesco.
The supermarket argued that the grocery market was now "national" and not local, as shoppers increasingly buy online and are prepared to travel further to visit a store.
A Tesco spokesman said: "We do not vary our retail offer in line with levels of local competition.
"We and all the other major grocery multiples have national strategies on pricing, branding, advertising, quality, range and service."
The group added: "The way in which customers do their grocery shopping has changed.
"Customers are now doing different types of shopping trips in different types of stores - from farmers' markets to the internet - with the result that smaller stores now impose an even greater competitive constraint on larger stores."
Tesco's defence comes in response to the commission's initial "emerging thinking" document in January. The Office of Fair Trading had referred the grocery sector to the commission in May last year after evidence suggested some supermarket chains were abusing their size to stifle competition, by pricing products below costs and by using "banks" of unused land to stop rivals opening stores.
The report earlier this year identified ten retailers that were below-cost selling.
The inquiry has been seen to focus on Tesco because of its lead in the market - the firm has a 31.3 per cent market share, recent grocery-sector figures revealed.
In the submission, Tesco argued that it used a national price list and that there were "no material variations in our retail offering between local areas".
On the issue of so-called land banks, the supermarket chain blamed the difficulty experienced by some players in putting their markers down in the planning system, which it said needed to be faster and more efficient.
The commission is set to publish preliminary findings in June, with a final report due in November.
The inquiry is the third into the supermarket sector in seven years.
A market-wide inquiry was launched in 2000 and three years later there was an examination into issues arising from the takeover battle for Safeway.
A case of tunnel vision, methinks.
Tescos...
you are the one that is wrong. Don't P off the consumer!
Don't you just hate Tesco ?
Their quote Tesco also criticised its rivals for not being as flexible as we have [been] . Perhaps for 'flexible' we could read greed?
Another quote The inquiry is the third into the supermarket sector in seven years.
Does not sound very good odds to me.
I wonder why Tesco is the only one 'arguing'? the others seem just to get on with their business.
I stopped using Tesco a number of years back when they stopped certain lines without letting you know and also when their staff used their own clocks when closing at night!
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