23/02/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | FEB 23, 2026

READ OUR

HERE

18

Malaysian Paper

/thesun

Its own fast-delivery service, Whoosh – store-to-door groceries in as little as 20 minutes – is expanding quickly and becoming a meaningful driver of online sales. During Covid, cities such as London teemed with grocery couriers. The boom then fizzled as losses piled up and capital costs soared, prompting consolidation and exits. Turkiye-based Getir bought Gorillas and Weezy but had quit the UK by 2024. Their retreat gave Tesco room to push deeper into fast fulfilment, leveraging its store network and heavier TV advertising to capture demand. Traditional rivals have tried the same – Sainsbury’s has Chop Chop, Asda promotes Asda Express Delivery and Ocado has Zoom. But none has Tesco’s financial muscle. And with Amazon still testing its own ultra-fast service, the opportunity has become another way for Tesco to widen its lead in Britain’s fiercely competitive £250 billion (RM1.3 trillion) grocery market. Whoosh operates from 1,600 Tesco stores, including 180 large outlets, reaching more than 70% of UK households. Tesco staff pick and pack orders, while partners – Uber Eats, Just Eat Go and Stuart – deliver. “We have been able to grow the service quickly using our existing stores and seamlessly integrate Whoosh into our overall offering,”Tesco online director Rob Graham told Reuters. He said Tesco recently added the option to schedule a Whoosh order. “We have seen growth in the number of items customers are buying and the number of times they use Whoosh, and our customer satisfaction scores are growing at the same time.” Whoosh sales rose 47% year-on-year over the 19 weeks to Jan 3, gaining more than 250,000 new customers. Tesco’s total online sales rose 11.2% in the period. It has about 37% of the UK online grocery market. The Institute of Grocery Distribution estimates the UK quick-commerce market was worth £2.4 billion in 2025 and forecasts a 10.1% compound annual growth rate through to 2030, WASHINGTON: Around the crack of dawn, a line begins forming at a strip mall in Hyattsville, Maryland, as residents ranging from students to delivery workers and federal contractors wait to sign up for food assistance. “Right now, it’s a lot – paying rent, buying food,” said Shirleyann Desormeaux, a chef supporting four children in her household. Even with two incomes, “it’s still not enough”, the 58-year-old added. She said she was keen to work, but has experienced having her hours cut as businesses struggle too. Desormeaux was among 100 or so people turning up in near-freezing temperatures in Hyattsville, a suburb of the US capital Washington, to seek groceries for their families, as anxiety about living costs rises in the world’s biggest economy. Although US economic growth has been solid, with President Donald Trump’s administration touting Wall Street records and tax relief, analysts warn that a “K-shaped economy” has taken hold. This is a situation where wealthier households benefit from rising asset values, but median- and lower-income families increasingly struggle. Nearly 60% of consumer spending in the third quarter last year came from the top 20% of income earners, according to Moody’s Analytics economist Mark Zandi. In the greater Washington area, some 36% of households experienced food insecurity in the past year, according to the Capital Area Food Bank. “We’re seeing more individuals in what we would traditionally consider higher-income

US households become increasingly strained

For Delaware resident Tricia Jones, who has lived in a hotel room with her husband and toddler for months, this sentiment strikes home. Jones, 46, temporarily lost her income source after spinal surgery last year. Her family was soon unable to afford rent, and she turned to GoFundMe at one point to raise funds. While Jones and her husband are both employed now, she said: “The pay doesn’t keep up with the cost of living.” “We don’t get any assistance with childcare,” she added. “I couldn’t even get assistance with a hotel voucher, because they told me that I work.” Meanwhile, the cost of groceries has climbed. A loaf of bread easily costs US$6 and the price of milk has recently risen from US$3.79 to US$5.79, she said. With a salary of around US$1,300, “there’s no way I can pay US$1,800 a month for rent on top of all my utilities and childcare”, she said. “There’s no way to stretch it.”– AFP

than a year ago, although Trump has said there is “virtually no inflation”. While Taylor makes around US$4,200 a month, his salary quickly goes towards his mortgage, utilities and food. Now, he occasionally collects free groceries, including for his mother. “I’m scraping,” he chuckled dryly, saying his family has cut back on eating out and going on longer drives. Pastor Oliver Carter of No Limits Outreach Ministries, which runs the distribution point in Hyattsville, said he sees rising demand and more immigrants seeking aid since food stamps were slashed for many asylum seekers. “Now, they’re left to fend for themselves.” Federal funding cuts under the Trump administration also meant less support for food drives. “It’s really a struggle now to continue doing what we do,” he said. Beyond the US capital area, a New York Times /Siena poll in January flagged a widespread belief that a middle-class lifestyle is out of reach for most people.

o Nearly 60% of consumer spending comes from top 20% of income earners quartiles,” said Radha Muthiah, the food bank’s CEO. That means a family of four making US$90,000 to US$120,000 a year could find themselves in need of “extra assistance in putting food on the table”, she told AFP. A key reason is “prolonged, sustained levels of inflation” after the Covid-19 pandemic, with wage growth not keeping pace, Muthiah said. “People are suffering,” Desormeaux said. Salih Taylor, a federal worker, said he had not considered visiting a food drive until speaking with his church’s pastor. “I used to be like, ‘I’ve got food, I don’t need it,’” the 49-year-old told AFP. But he conceded: “It helps out a lot.” Food prices in December were 3.1% higher

Tesco turns rapid-delivery threat into competitive edge LONDON: Five years after Tesco boss Ken Murphy warned that rapid-delivery startups could inflict “death by a thousand nibbles” on Britain’s major supermarkets, the UK’s biggest food retailer has turned the threat into an advantage.

A Tesco worker packs an item into a bag as part of a ‘Whoosh’ order inside a supermarket in Manchester. – REUTERSPIC

Tesco has told suppliers it aims to regain a 30% share, and major investors say the goal – last hit in 2013 – is plausible. “It’s conceivable over a number of years to get there by just doing what they have done,” said Kunal Kothari, UK equity portfolio manager at Aviva Investors, a top-20 Tesco shareholder. “There’s no reason why they cannot continue to grow share at 20, 30 basis points a year.” Even after a 16% rise year-on-year, Tesco shares still trade at a steep discount to global peers. Walmart trades on more than 40 times forward earnings versus Tesco’s roughly 15 times. “There’s a bit more of an appreciation in the

lifting its share of online grocery deliveries from 9.1% to 11.9%. Whoosh’s growth highlights Tesco’s ability to adapt to market shifts. Its research shows most Whoosh purchases are incremental to in-store shopping. Not all of its bets have come off, though, with moves into banking and financial services later scaled back. Tesco’s UK grocery market share peaked at 31.6% in December 2007, before German discounters Aldi and Lidl shook up the market and forced sharper price competition. Its share stood at 28.7% in January, up 20 basis points year-on-year, according to Worldpanel by Numerator.

U.S. for these businesses,“ said Julian Bishop, co-lead portfolio manager of Tesco investor the Brunner Investment Trust. “We think Tesco have about 50% of all the profit in the UK grocery market. They’re in a very strong position, in control of the market.” Ben Preston, fund manager at Orbis Investments, another top-20 investor, sees little risk of a damaging price war, noting rivals Asda and Morrisons remain highly leveraged. “The bigger concern is they just lose focus, lose their execution edge and somehow allow competitors back into the game,” he said. But having entered 2026 with momentum, Tesco is determined to stay sharp. Murphy’s mantra remains: “Don’t get too cocky.” – Reuters