Tesco – every little helps

When Rob Salter joined Tesco in 2008 he was in for a shock.

The firm’s new entertainment category director expected Tesco – with its 2,500 UK shops and millions of customers – to be one of the most desirable retailers out there. But for the games industry, that just wasn’t the case.

My first meetings with the video game suppliers were challenging,” remembers Salter.

What surprised me was the extent to which they were disappointed in us. They said ‘You are not really a priority’, which is unusual for Tesco.

The manufacturers had been burnt. They invested in things and experimented with Tesco to find nothing had really happened.”

Back in 2008 Tesco was a tiny player in games. And although the supermarket behemoth promised time and time again it would turn things around, it never did.

They were, as MCV once said, ‘a missed opportunity’ for video games retail.

To read the full interview, click here.