Tesco expands range of products at FairPrice

SINGAPORE — Fans of British supermarket brand Tesco can now get their hands on more than 400 of its products at about 60 NTUC FairPrice outlets and online, albeit at prices higher than in the United Kingdom.

Both supermarket giants announced an exclusive tie-up yesterday that doubled the Tesco range available at FairPrice.

More products from Tesco Finest, its premium food range, will also be offered at mainly FairPrice Finest and FairPrice Xtra outlets. They include products such as fair-trade coffee, traditional British biscuits and Italian pasta from Gragnano.

A new Tesco store-in-store concept was launched at Bukit Timah Plaza’s FairPrice Finest. It will offer over 70 types of Tesco’s wines and “free-from” products, such as items without gluten or trans fat.

A second store-in-store will be launched at the FairPrice Finest store in Marine Parade at the end of this year.

“By tapping into Tesco’s global retailing experiences and trends they have observed, we have been able to stay ahead of our game,” said NTUC FairPrice chief executive Seah Kian Peng.

Although the Tesco products at FairPrice supermarkets are pricier than in Britain due to “logistics” and “exchange rates”, they are still “good prices” compared with other imported brands, particularly for the “free-from” products, said Mr Tony Hoggett, Tesco’s chief executive in Asia.

A 300g pack of Tesco’s milk chocolate digestives costs £0.60 (S$1.07) on Tesco’s UK online store and S$3.45 on FairPrice’s online store, while its maple syrup (250g) costs £3.99 (S$7.09) in the UK and S$13.55 here, according to research conducted by TODAY.

Consumers like homemaker Jennifer Mok, 40, said Singaporeans are increasingly venturing overseas and more are opting for recognised global brands.

“In the past, they usually buy (foreign products) overseas and bring it back here. (The tie-up with Tesco) is a good concept, as there are now more choices for people at their doorstep,” said Mrs Mok.

Tesco is not the only British supermarket brand whose products are sold here. Waitrose’s products can be found at Cold Storage supermarkets, for instance. Tesco has no plans to open an independent supermarket chain here, said Mr Hoggett.