Tesco Twitters Its Way to Family Success at Fresh & Easy

Twitter is helping drive changes in the product mix at Fresh & Easy, and it may actually influence more of what the Tesco division does in the future.

Spokesman Brendan Wonnacott said changes the company has recently made, including the introduction of a family meal line, were reactions to consumer input, which increasingly comes through the online social network. He noted:

We’ve gotten a lot of feedback on Twitter. We want to hear what people are thinking and take advantage of it going forward. We have almost 3,000 followers on Twitter, and it’s a very interactive community. People are not only interested in our brand but our overall philosophy. It has represented a huge shift in interacting with our customers, and at the same time, it’s a lot of fun.”

Fresh & Easy established its Twitter link in the fall and realized its potential over time, Wonnacott said.

We recently have become a lot more active on it. People use it to ask questions of the company, questions about products, store locations, and they’ll make suggestions for store locations, for products. It’s really free flowing.

Wonnacott said tweets have been part of the customer feedback that helped Fresh & Easy develop a line of 40 to 45 ounce family-sized prepared meals that have, in turn, become a hit with shoppers. The line, introduced last month for families on a budget, has produced the six top items among more than 110 the retailer makes daily at its Riverside, Calif. distribution center and commissary. Top seller is the family-sized Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Alfredo item, while Chicken Teriyaki with Rice and Vegetables comes in second.

Fresh & Easy early on placed more emphasis on gourmet take out food, wine and beer, reflective of Tesco’s Express format as operates in Europe and a source of early inspiration. Over the past year, though, the retailer has shifted toward family friendly budget offerings. The movement began last year when Fresh & Easy developed its 98-Cent Produce Packs, a product line the retailer later expanded after it caught on with customers. Larger sizes of heavily requested items including diapers, laundry detergent, produce and cereals followed the produce packs into stores. Recently, the retailer rolled out a Buy More and Save promotion providing discounts when customer purchase multiple items.

Wonnacott said the move toward budget items didn’t necessarily represent a fundamental change in Fresh & Easy’s approach to the market. Rather, he said, the company has been taking advantage of the extensive distribution center it developed early on to change gears along with the economy and consumer demand. The facility, sometimes the subject of criticism for the expenses associated with building and operating it, provides Fresh & Easy with certain advantages, Wonnacott said, including the ability to rapidly develop private label products that meet evolving consumer needs and to lend a flexibility the retailer can use to address shifting consumer priorities in the recession.