Tesco to Close their Non-Food Website in July

Tesco has announced plans to close its non-food website Tesco Direct, putting as many as 500 UK jobs at risk.

The UK’s largest supermarket chain has confirmed that the Tesco Direct website will close on 9th July 2018, as well as their Fenny Lock distribution centre in Milton Keynes, where 500 staff are currently employed to fulfil the orders. It is understood that jobs at Tesco’s head office in Welwyn Garden City and Dundee customer service centre may also be affected.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Tesco’s UK chief executive Charles Wilson said the site was a “small, loss-making part of the business” and had “no route to profitability”.

Many of the goods currently available on Tesco Direct are already available through the Tesco.com site, and the move is part of the grocer’s drive to “create a simpler online experience for customers,” where all items can be bought in one place.

“We want to offer our customers the ability to buy groceries and non-food products in one place and that’s why we are focusing our investment into one online platform,” Wilson said. “This decision has been a very difficult one to make, but it is an essential step towards establishing a more sustainable non-food offer and growing our business for the future.”

In a communication sent to customers yesterday from their Chief Customer Officer Alessandra Bellini, Tesco said "We’re emailing you to let you know about some changes to our websites.As we continue to focus on delivering the best online grocery service for our customers, we have decided to close Tesco Direct – our website that offers a range of technology, homeware, clothing and toys for delivery or collection.

The closure of Tesco Direct on 9 July will be the first step towards making our main website, tesco.com, even better. You can already buy some products such as toys and homeware there. And we’ll gradually be expanding this range, so you’ll be able to buy your groceries and a wide variety of other useful products all in one place by the end of 2019".

Source: Insight DIY Team

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home, home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.