Tesco increases efforts to ensure sustainability

By THE NATION

 

 

Tesco Lotus is celebrating 25 years of operation in Thailand by turning its attention to driving sustainability through its “Little Helps Plan”, which sets out how the retailer will make a difference to the social and environmental challenges that matter most to customers.

 

The aim is to ensure that Thai consumers have access to high-quality products that are sourced sustainably, healthy, and affordable. It will also enhance measures to protect the environment and support local communities.

 

“Throughout our operations in Thailand, we have remained committed to making positive contributions to all of our stakeholders and to the environment. We recognise that there is a role we can play in making a bigger impact in a positive way and are implementing the Little Helps Plan across our businesses. Clear targets and KPIs have been set, with progress being reported transparently and regularly,” Sompong Rungnirattisai, the company’s chief executive, said.

 

“As a retailer, we believe that we should do more than just sourcing products and passing them on to customers. Our customers in Thailand must have access to high quality products that come from sustainable sources, are good for their health, and still have affordable prices. As such, Tesco Lotus has prioritised sustainable sourcing of products, with respect to ethics, human rights, animal welfare, and environmental impact. Food products must be of high quality, made from good ingredients, be tasty and affordable and also healthy.”

 

“Our sustainability plan also focuses on an integral part of our business – our colleagues. As an employer of nearly 50,000 colleagues, Tesco Lotus is committed to helping our colleagues to get on, with opportunities to grow and develop their skills and capabilities, beyond having an income and other benefits. Currently, 80-90 per cent of our store colleagues are from surrounding communities. We also extend employment opportunities to others such as retirees and students to work within the business.”

 

“In terms of the support we provide for communities, as a food retailer, we focus on ensuring that children in impoverished schools around Thailand have access to nutritious and healthy food. Our food donation programme provides lunches for students in 77 schools in all provinces of Thailand. Our edible surplus food is also donated from 40 hypermarkets in Bangkok and major cities.”

 

“Due to mounting concerns on the environment and waste, Tesco Lotus has focused our effort on reducing plastic and food waste. We encourage customers to refuse plastic bags and we don’t giving plastic bags for purchases of two items or less across our 1,800 small format stores. By the end of 2019, we will also stop using plastic straws in our operations and offer more environmentally friendly alternatives for our customers. Since July 1, 2019, we have eliminated all foam trays from our operations.”

 

Salinla Seehaphan, Corporate Affairs Director at Tesco Lotus, said that Tesco Lotus began campaigning for customers to say no to plastic bags since 2015, the first retailer in Thailand to introduce the reward system to incentivize customers to change behaviors.

 

"Every time customers refuse plastic bags, they receive Clubcard points which can be redeemed for discounts and other privileges. Since the start of the programme, we have awarded nearly 6 billion points and saved more than 190 million plastic bags," she said.

 

The chain has also turned all express checkout lanes in 200 hypermarkets will be turned into Green Lanes that do not give plastic bags effective this month.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30375817

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-09-04

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13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Tesco Lotus is celebrating 25 years of operation in Thailand by turning its attention to driving sustainability through its “Little Helps Plan”,

Sometimes, I have to just laugh and shake my head. Here we have a global company with plenty of resources to draw from and yet their upcoming slogan makes no sense...

 

Edited September 4, 20196 yr by missoura

16 minutes ago, missoura said:

26 minutes ago, webfact said:

Tesco Lotus is celebrating 25 years of operation in Thailand by turning its attention to driving sustainability through its “Little Helps Plan”,

Sometimes, I have to just laugh and shake my head. Here we have a global company with plenty of resources to draw from and yet their upcoming slogan makes no sense...

Has it changed now? It use to be "Every little helps".

'Little helps' could be seen as negative statement, saying that very little actual helps.

Or are they planning to employ midgets?

They could halp me a little by filling up all the empty English Buscuit shelves that have been waiting for stock for the past few months. What the hell is wrong with the ordering system in this country !

Just now, trainman34014 said:

They could halp me a little by filling up all the empty English Buscuit shelves that have been waiting for stock for the past few months. What the hell is wrong with the ordering system in this country !

Customs are still probably 'batch sampling' the biscuits.

if they were half serious, they should take responsibility and let customers bring all the packaging back to them; that will force them to actually do something other than slogans.

Next they will come up with something worth buying to confound us all ????

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

They could halp me a little by filling up all the empty English Buscuit shelves that have been waiting for stock for the past few months. What the hell is wrong with the ordering system in this country !

Well, they are probably busy filling up half their shelves with soy sauce, palm oil, and Mama noodles...

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

They could halp me a little by filling up all the empty English Buscuit shelves that have been waiting for stock for the past few months. What the hell is wrong with the ordering system in this country !

The BigC re ordering system is just the same. They keep it as uncomplicated as possible for themselves and stuff the customers.

Re ordering takes place when the last on on the shelf has been sold.....and it doesn't matter where in the world it has to come from.

I wish someone would tell the manager of Tesco in N Pattaya how to run a store ,it just gets worse and worse ,never has much stock(unless you want fish sauce,almost a whole isle of that),now so few people seem to be shopping there loads of the food and coffee outlets in the food hall have closed ,made our last visit there yesterday ,never again ,just not worth the bother .

Try buying something in Tesco that is not laden with either sugar, salt or both. They have very little in their ranges.

Edited September 4, 20196 yr by Asquith Production

30 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Well, they are probably busy filling up half their shelves with soy sauce, palm oil, and Mama noodles...

Your right their range of food stuffs is absymal. You cant even get a tin of tomatoes in my local

I only see people window shopping in lotus , its a family day out . They should have more tills open for under 5 items as i never see people with any more items than that in there trolley  . When in the KK store yesterday there seemed to be around 10 staff to 1 customer .Then again when they employ mostly migrants in there warehouse IN KK working 12 hour shifts 6 days or nights a week on a lot less than the thai minimum wage , i do not suppose sales  matter to much .

5 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

I wish someone would tell the manager of Tesco in N Pattaya how to run a store ,it just gets worse and worse ,never has much stock(unless you want fish sauce,almost a whole isle of that),now so few people seem to be shopping there loads of the food and coffee outlets in the food hall have closed ,made our last visit there yesterday ,never again ,just not worth the bother .

You can't tell the Manager anything if you are Thai staff, not allowed, all they can do is take orders and do what they are told.  It's also difficult to find the Manager when he spends the majority of his time with his Mia Noi or on the Golf Course.   There is no such thing as 'good management' in Thailand !

6 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

They could halp me a little by filling up all the empty English Buscuit shelves that have been waiting for stock for the past few months. What the hell is wrong with the ordering system in this country !

And stocking corn chips to go with the salsa they stock in one of the stores close to me

4 hours ago, agood1963 said:

I only see people window shopping in lotus , its a family day out . They should have more tills open for under 5 items as i never see people with any more items than that in there trolley  . When in the KK store yesterday there seemed to be around 10 staff to 1 customer .Then again when they employ mostly migrants in there warehouse IN KK working 12 hour shifts 6 days or nights a week on a lot less than the thai minimum wage , i do not suppose sales  matter to much .

The lotus in KB has lots of people with full carts even though a macro opened up back in December but they still need to open more registers for less than 10 or 15 items

Our local little Tesco (16k away) has no bargains at all. No cheap cat food. No cheap cheese. No cheap sun glasses. No nothing on special!! I've been the only one in there at times and often come out without buying anything. Have a pretty check-out lady though. And a decent loo.

 

Big C (Big Care) on the other hand, has bargains galore, and more than one nice looking lady.

 

The 7-11s are killing the little Tescos too.

Edited September 4, 20196 yr by owl sees all

Please turn the volume down on the music...IT DRIVES ME MAD...sorry for yelling .

9 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

They could halp me a little by filling up all the empty English Buscuit shelves that have been waiting for stock for the past few months. What the hell is wrong with the ordering system in this country !

Like many products, always vacant shelves waiting for stock --- that's of course if the product hasn't been deleted from their inventory completely - something that seems to be happening on a regular basis. 

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Tesco increases efforts to ensure sustainability

Banning plastic bags at the counter on one day a month is not going to make much of a difference.
365 days of the year backed up by visiting all suppliers to minimise or change their packaging however would !

Quote:-

"they receive Clubcard points which can be redeemed for discounts and other privilege"

 

Can anyone offer advice on how to redeem the Clubcard points? I have my own card which I have used for several years and every quarter (3 months) I received by post "cash back" and special offer coupons. In my case this has ceased and have not received anything for the past year. I am not losing any points as they are still being accrued and totaled on my till receipts. I have e-mailed Tesco Lotus HQ in Bangkok but no reply. I have also tried to liaise with my local Tesco Lotus stores but again no success as the staff do not understand English, despite the sign above their counter clearly stating "Customer Service Information" - in English!!