Tesco shoppers will soon be able to assess the growing importance of the multiple's global sourcing activity. Christine Cross, world non foods buying director, said a new red and yellow emblem ­ bearing the slogan "Buying globally saving locally" ­ was starting to appear on lines in the company's stores. "This is a new mark that goes on any product we are sourcing globally and selling in various countries," she said. Cross said the emblem would appear first on clothing such as jeans, polo tops and business shirts, as well as on stationery and some housewares. She also revealed that in March Tesco would start introducing global continuity lines such as batteries and video tapes in all the countries in which it operated. Tesco had run an e-auction to source some of those lines. "Once you have scale you can look at ways of buying as well as what you are buying," Cross explained. Tesco expects its global sourcing team to be buying £2bn worth of non food stock by 2002/03 to meet the needs of its international and domestic operations. To hit that target, the multiple now runs an international team of 120 people buying non food products through sourcing hubs in Hong Kong, Thailand, India and the Czech Republic. The challenge, said Cross, was tailoring products to meet the needs of individual markets ­ while still maximising economies of scale. "We take on board the needs of the local consumer so they see a local offer but we have centralised things behind the scenes as much as possible," she said. - Tesco is also setting up an international sourcing team on the food side under Steve Ajar, which will buy products such as fruit and rice for its worldwide operations. {{NEWS }}

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