Who can stop the Tesco juggernaut?

The Northern Echo highlights the concerns over the growth of Tesco and its impact on communities. It quotes Malcolm Goodman, a lecturer at Durham University's business school, "They're able to offer the basics of life at heavily reduced prices and sometimes at a loss," says Mr Goodman. "They have this way of moving people through three price bands. There's the bargain band they will offer initially and, when most of the competition has gone, they will offer the mainstream band to shoppers. Then they will move you up to the premium band." By the time you reach the premium band stage, he says, there are fewer cheaper prices around to act as competition because most of the competition has gone. This comes at the same time as suppliers are being squeezed. "In a sense, people are captive because basically Tesco will have a monopoly," he says. "That's when they start putting more and more of their own brands on the shelves."
Sheringham beware.