UK’s largest food retailer eyes RP

Britain’s largest food retailer has expressed interest in entering the local market in a bid to strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia.

Tesco, the largest food retailer in the United Kingdom, operates in Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan and is set to open a hypermarket in Malaysia this year.

Tesco’s core business is food although it has expanded to non-food business such as electrical, home entertainment, homeware, cookware, white goods and furniture.

In the food business, Tesco is Britain’s market leader, cornering over 16 percent of total market.

Its non-food business, on the other hand, accounts for four percent of total market worth £75 billion.

Aside from penetrating the Asian market, Tesco also has operations in Central Europe with stores in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Ireland.

If Tesco pushes through with its plans, the firm will be the second foreign food retailer to enter the country under the Retail Trade Liberalization Law.

The first to enter the Philippines was Price Smart followed by American fastfood giant McDonalds and Hong Kong-British drug and convenience store chain, Watsons.

Several other foreign retailer firms had initially indicated interest, but backed out due to one reason or another. These include the French Casino Group, Carrefour and even the US retail giant Walmart.