Tesco has rolled out a digital “marketplace” to sell products ranging from office furniture to giant chess sets, as the supermarket giant seeks to challenge Amazon online.
Around 9,000 new products have been added to Tesco’s website, as the retailer seeks to attract shoppers with third-party brands, such as Hornby jigsaws and Beko air fryers.
It comes as Tesco seeks to turn itself into a “one-stop shop for everything customers need”.
Tesco’s marketplace director Peter Filcek said the supermarket was trying to give customers more choice.
He said: “We’re constantly looking at ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers, and our new marketplace offers them the same great quality and value they have come to expect from Tesco across an even bigger range of products, from our specially selected partners.”
He said the range would be expanded further in the coming months.
The products appear alongside Tesco groceries on the website but orders will be fulfilled by third-party suppliers.
The move to expand its range comes amid a push among supermarkets to draw in more shoppers online, with Sainsbury’s recently setting up new fashion hubs to sell third-party fashion brands.
M&S, meanwhile, has also been focusing on growing sales of other high street brands.
Executives are understood to be targeting as much as £1bn in revenues from third-party lines in the coming years.
Morrisons also trialled the launch of more general merchandise in its stores earlier this year, selling low-priced luggage and jewellery.
It was viewed as an attempt to mimic the success Aldi and Lidl have had with their “middle aisle” offers, which feature limited edition general merchandise.
Tesco’s push into consumer goods comes years after it retreated from an earlier attempt to launch a digital marketplace.
This came in the form of the Tesco Direct website, which launched in 2012 but ceased trading six years later.
Analysts have suggested the latest move by Tesco comes in response to Amazon’s attempt to steal shoppers from traditional British supermarkets.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
