British household staple Marmite has been taken off Tesco’s online shelves reports Journal.ie. Shoppers were first to notice when attempts to add it to their virtual shopping basket was met with a "currently not available" notification.
After questions about Marmites absence were raised it materialized that other products supplied by Unilever such as Ben & Jerrys ice-cream, Persil and PG Tips also will no longer be stocked by Tesco for the foreseeable future. This is due to a price row between the two companies when Tesco refused to increase the price of the products by 10% in the wake of the Brexit vote.
Pulling firm favourites off the shelves was not an easy one for the world’s third biggest supermarket chain. According to Danielle Pinnington, Managing Director, shopper research agency Shoppercentric: “Tesco will be mindful of their pricing vs the competition – particularly the discounters who don’t deal with Unilever. But Unilever’s portfolio is big enough to make this a very difficult decision for Tesco. Meanwhile, in the short term shoppers can go elsewhere if they want specific products – until those alternative retailers take the price hike or run out of stock".
The dispute broke out following a turbulent few days for the pound which has plummeted to it’s lowest level for 31 years against the dollar. Pinnington explained “If it is all about the fundamentals of who absorbs the cost of Brexit then this is not going to be easy, and it will be interesting to see which business breaks first. If it is Tesco then ultimately shoppers will take the hit.”
Marmite is still available to purchase for Irish online Tesco shoppers. However, it is still unclear whether it and numerous other brands supplied by Unilever will be cleared across shelves in Tesco Ireland also.
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern
