When Tesco reverted to imperial,
what actually reverted? What is the actual
status of scale conversion in the areas where there was resistance? Is
compliance increasing? It would be nice if people who live in the
UK could keep us up-to-date on whatis
happening.
Euric
Imperial weights and measures are to be reintroduced
and highlighted in a move to help confused shoppers.
Tesco will reintroduce price per lbs on product packs,
imperial weights will be enlarged on shelf edge labels and metric will be
dropped from point of sale material.
Under new Euro rules, metric measurements are meant to
take precedence. But research by Tesco has shown customers still weigh up
their purchases in pounds and ounces. Over 53 per cent of customers find
metric confusing and 76 per cent of customers would like imperial measurements
displayed. Only 8 per cent of customers would like metric weight displayed on
its own.
The research also showed that most customers ''think''
in imperial. When asked to guess the weight of a bag of apples, 87 per cent of
customers estimated the weight in imperial, when asked the same question for
Fresh Mince, 86 per cent of customers expressed their answer in imperial.
"It''s time to turn the scales in favour of the
British customer, 90 per cent of our shoppers think in imperial " says Tesco
Marketing Director, Tim Mason, "They tell us when it comes to size, imperial
matters. We''re not anti Europe, but we are pro shopper. Our customers quite
clearly live their lives thinking and working in imperial"
A spate of mis ordering, by Tesco Home shopping
customers pointed up the problem. One customer ordered 3 kg of broccoli rather
than 3 lbs, another ordered 9 kg of potatoes rather than just 9 Ibs. The final
straw came when one customer ordered 2kgs of prawns rather than the 2Ibs she
wanted.
New posters and point of sale labels are being rolled
out to all 650 Tesco stores. These will headline prices in imperial units.
However, to remain legal, all shelve edge labels and labels on products will
carry both metric and imperial unit pricing.
"We are in the business of making life easier for
shoppers," adds Tim Mason, " right now customers want their purchases pointed
up in pounds and ounces."
* Imperial measurements will be along side shelf edge
labels and on products. Point of sale material will be in imperial
only.
