Jack’s: an austerity brand for Brexit Britain

With the launch of Jack’s, its cut-price competitor to Aldi and Lidl, Tesco has created a nostalgia-fuelled ‘Britain-first’ supermarket. James Greenfield believes it’s a misstep by a brand once renowned for innovation

For years now we’ve heard rumours of Tesco rebrands that never see the light of day. Attempts at changing that logo, which was first introduced in 1995. My guess has always been the sheer number of touch points across their 6,553 stores has tempered the enthusiasm for change with a hell of a refit bill.

But with half a decade of tough trading, a retreat from the US market and a lack of innovation that’s stuck, Tesco needed something to fight back. Something to make it the everyman again, and to stop that market share slipping further. So it has invented Jack’s, a low cost version that goes right back to its roots. The average Tesco sells 35,000 lines; Jack’s will sell 3,500, with many classic brands such as Heinz missing. I am not going into the reasons behind it all, you can read the press release here and stories in the Guardian, BBC and various other media sources. I am instead going to focus on why I think Jack’s is a misstep, but an understandable one.