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    Case Study

    Tesco and Ocado: Competing online models

    By Ralf W. Seifert and Richard Markoff
    7 pages
    January 2018
    Order this case study
    Reference: IMD-7-1975

    The online grocery market in the UK is one of the largest in the world. It has many players, but two of the most dynamic are Tesco and Ocado. These two companies have taken markedly different approaches to executing and fulfilling online grocery orders from customers. Tesco has an extensive network of stores and primarily uses these stores as picking locations to prepare and ship customer orders. Ocado has no retail stores, and uses highly automated distribution centers to prepare and ship customer orders. This case describes the UK online grocery market and the two companies; it invites students to consider the differences in the approaches, in which ways they offer advantages to the company and to customers, and ultimately which one is better suited to the UK online grocery market.

    Learning Objective
    • The objective of this case to develop an appreciation and understanding of the different benefits, costs and constraints of supply chain distribution models.
    • By contrasting two companies that have very different supply chain approaches to competing in the same market, the case leads students to make connections between a company’s supply chain strategy and its customer value proposition
    Keywords
    Supply Chain, Omnichannel
    Settings
    Europe, United Kingdom
    Ocado, Tesco, Information Technology, eCommerce
    2017
    Type
    Published Sources
    Copyright
    © 2018
    Available Languages
    English
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    This case study is part of a series
    • Ocado versus tesco.com
    • Tesco and Ocado: Competing online models
    • Tesco and Ocado: Contrasting online grocery supply chain models
    This case study is part of a series
    • Ocado versus tesco.com
    • Tesco and Ocado: Competing online models
    • Tesco and Ocado: Contrasting online grocery supply chain models
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