Tesco is Wal-Mart's worst nightmare

Read more at KVOA News 4, Tucson, Arizona

British retailer Tesco entered the U.S. market only in 2007, but already it has managed to put Wal-Mart, the world's No. 1 retailer, on the defensive.

Tesco fired the first salvo, in a battle that retailing analysts expect will intensify, by launching Fresh & Easy, a chain of 10,000-square-foot convenience stores, in cities across California, Nevada, and Arizona in November 2007. Eleven months later, Wal-Mart returned fire, taking on Tesco in Arizona with the debut of the similar-size Marketside, its first new store format in a decade.

'It's a direct message from Wal-Mart to Tesco saying, 'Hey, we're watching you,'' says Neil Stern, a senior partner at retail consultants McMillan Doolittle in Chicago. ''And we'll not only copy you; we will do it better.''
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