TESCO is axing thousands of products in what’s thought to be a bid to take on Aldi and Lidl.
The supermarket is ditching around 20 per cent of its current 40,000-strong product range over the rest of the year.
This means around 8,000 items will disappear from shelves although the supermarket says new products will continue to launch over this time frame.
Tesco says the changes are to avoid “duplication” where it stocks the same item but in different sizes or varieties.
It wouldn’t give us a full list of examples, but did say it will look at products such as toilet roll and tomato ketchup where you can buy numerous different varieties in different sizes.
The supermarket adds that it wants to make its stores simpler and easier for shoppers to navigate.
It doesn’t explicitly say this is because it wants to rival the budget supermarkets but it could be seen as an attempt to do so.
Tesco says it typically stocks the largest number of products across all the major supermarkets.
So trimming down its aisles could be a bid to match the wider, sparser aisles seen in Aldi and Lidl.
Just last year Tesco opened its new discount chain Jack’s to take on Aldi and Lidl.
At launch Jack’s stocked just 2,600 products with a focus on own branded British goods.
Meanwhile, the supermarket revealed earlier this month that it is selling Jack’s products in Tesco stores as it also cut hundreds of own-brand prices.
Clubcard members can also currently get up to 50 per cent off as part of a special loyalty card promotion.
A spokesperson for Tesco said: “We range over 40,000 products and we continually look for ways to provide customers with the best range, quality and value.
“Any changes to our range are informed by customer feedback and are focused on reducing duplication, improving availability, and making it easier for customers to find the products they want.
“A main focus for the range optimisation work in 2019 will be on removing duplication, introducing innovative new products and reducing the number of pack sizes, for example in a category where we currently stock 250g, 500g, 750g and 1kg variants.”
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