Julian Hunt
A raft of homeware products has been introduced to the Tesco Finest range as part of a major overhaul of the multiple's most important sub-brand.
Finest has already been stretched into health and beauty products.
But the non-food products launched this week take it into completely new product areas such as lead crystal wine glasses, Egyptian cotton bedlinen, towels, lead crystal vases and kitchen knives.
In all, Tesco has introduced 200 products to its range, with new food lines such as crab thermidore, sun blushed tomato and roast vegetable risotto and pot au chocolate.
It has also tweaked the packaging of the Finest range to maximise its on-shelf impact.
The revamp  first revealed by The Grocer last month (September 14, p4)  will ensure Tesco Finest maintains its lead over Sainsbury's rival Taste the Difference sub-brand. Tesco marketing director Tim Mason said Finest sales had hit the £600m mark. The range is growing 30% year-on-year, and Mason said 48% of trollies going through Tesco tills now contained a Finest product.
"We are not talking about little niche products but products with mass appeal," he added.
Mason said the success of Finest was partly due to the fact it now encompassed a broad range of products  and that provided more entry points for more shoppers.
That is one reason why Tesco has made its first moves outside traditional grocery areas with the sub-brand.
Mason said it made perfect sense to introduce a top tier of quality into its non-food ranges and to use the Finest name to make those products easily identifiable for consumers.
He added: "The UK has got used to a homogeneous Marks and Spencer standard, but that's not the way the world works."
Mason said the range would not sell everywhere, adding: "We don't have huge aspirations for the volumes of non-food to begin with." Nevertheless, he said the Finest non-food lines were "great products that will sell very well in some places".
n Mason also revealed that Tesco was preparing for a major launch of healthy eating products in the new year.
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A raft of homeware products has been introduced to the Tesco Finest range as part of a major overhaul of the multiple's most important sub-brand.
Finest has already been stretched into health and beauty products.
But the non-food products launched this week take it into completely new product areas such as lead crystal wine glasses, Egyptian cotton bedlinen, towels, lead crystal vases and kitchen knives.
In all, Tesco has introduced 200 products to its range, with new food lines such as crab thermidore, sun blushed tomato and roast vegetable risotto and pot au chocolate.
It has also tweaked the packaging of the Finest range to maximise its on-shelf impact.
The revamp  first revealed by The Grocer last month (September 14, p4)  will ensure Tesco Finest maintains its lead over Sainsbury's rival Taste the Difference sub-brand. Tesco marketing director Tim Mason said Finest sales had hit the £600m mark. The range is growing 30% year-on-year, and Mason said 48% of trollies going through Tesco tills now contained a Finest product.
"We are not talking about little niche products but products with mass appeal," he added.
Mason said the success of Finest was partly due to the fact it now encompassed a broad range of products  and that provided more entry points for more shoppers.
That is one reason why Tesco has made its first moves outside traditional grocery areas with the sub-brand.
Mason said it made perfect sense to introduce a top tier of quality into its non-food ranges and to use the Finest name to make those products easily identifiable for consumers.
He added: "The UK has got used to a homogeneous Marks and Spencer standard, but that's not the way the world works."
Mason said the range would not sell everywhere, adding: "We don't have huge aspirations for the volumes of non-food to begin with." Nevertheless, he said the Finest non-food lines were "great products that will sell very well in some places".
n Mason also revealed that Tesco was preparing for a major launch of healthy eating products in the new year.
{{NEWS }}
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