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Tesco launches groceries website in Polish to cater for huge demand

Tesco

7 May 2008

Overwhelming demand for Polish delicacies in Britain has led Tesco to launch a dedicated home shopping website for Poles.
The launch of the Polish website follows the recent extension of Tesco’s Polish food range to 250 products and 500 stores.
From Glasgow to Slough, from Wrexham to Northern Ireland, an estimated 1.2m Poles now live and work in the UK – all wanting a taste of home in their weekly shop.
Now the website, which is in both Polish and English, will allow Poles greater access to their favourite foods from back home.
And as well as being able to shop online the tesco.com website will allow shoppers the opportunity to find their nearest stores stocking Polish fare.
Said Tesco Polish food buyer Kaska Teofilak: “The huge demand for Polish delicacies
in Britain has overwhelmed us to the extent that we have exceeded our original expectation by tenfold.
“The rocketing demand means that Polish has become the fastest growing ethnic food range we have ever launched including our Indian and Chinese cuisines so the launch of a dedicated website for Poles is a logical step forward.
“There are links to it from some of the most popular websites visited by the Polish community such as search engines and news services.”
One Polish customer who helped trial the website is Izabela Prejzner from London.
Said Izabela: “The most important point for me and many of my friends who use it is that it is in Polish as well as English which really simplifies ordering.
“I think of lot of Poles who are still learning English are a bit nervous to use the mainstream shopping site for fear of making a mistake so this has come as a big help for them.”
Initially Tesco’s Polish range was launched in just 10 stores in September 2006 and was then rolled out to a further 240 the following April. Now it has been extended to 500 stores.
This means that Tesco will sell Polish food in more UK stores than it does in its Polish stores.
Tesco’s range is specially selected with help from monthly focus groups in the UK and in Poland, where Tesco has 245 stores.
Customers say they are homesick for all kinds of foods, from pulpety (meatballs) to delicje (biscuits with chocolate and jam).
Included in the range is typical Polish fare such as salty sticks, white sour soup, meat balls with tomato sauce, long life milk, pates, and carrot juice.
Other popular Polish foods are golabki, flaki, fasolka, canned fish, Polish mustards, pickled vegetables, plus beer brands such as Tyskie and an energy drink called Tiger.
The most popular products are juices, pickles, and ready meals.
Added Tesco’s Kaska Teofilak: “We are dealing directly with suppliers in Poland and the huge demand in Britain is creating a boom for the economy over there.
“Having a business in Poland has made it easier for us to bring over the most popular food and drink items and keep prices low.
“As part of my job I travel to Poland on a regular basis to check out the latest food trends so we can make them available over here.”
The website’s address is http://www.tesco.com/polski/
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