UK supermarket giant Tesco unveiled plans today to take on the high street by expanding its clothing range.
The chain is to invest millions of pounds in offering a clothing and home catalogue, online sales and introducing a new 'store-within-a-store' clothes outlet.
In an exclusive interview with City AM, London's free daily business paper, Tesco's fashion chief executive Terry Green said he expected to boost clothing sales to £1 billion sterling next year. 'We have a massive investment coming in and we are going to trial selling our clothing ranges online next year,' he said.
Mr Green said he wanted Tesco to ultimately take on UK high street giants like Next and Top Shop as well as Britain's biggest clothing retailer, Marks & Spencer. He said the company was 'committed' to increasing the non-food side of its business and 'closing the gap' with M&S.
But Mr Green said while the supermarket was considered a discount retailer, it was also looking to stock 'upmarket' fashion labels to attract other customers.
Tesco is planning to roll out a string of 'quasi-department store outlets', including dedicated clothing departments within existing stores. It is also expected to sign up a series of high-profile fashion designers to mark the fresh move into clothing.
