In a surprise move Tesco is shutting down its clothing and homewares website Tesco Direct, this puts 500 jobs at risk.
Staff were briefed on Tuesday afternoon about the decision to close the loss-making website.
Tesco admitted it couldn’t see a way to make the website profitable. As a result the retailer said approximately 500 staff were at risk of redundancy.
“This decision has been a very difficult one to make, but it is an essential step towards establishing a more sustainable non-food offer and growing our business for the future,” said Charles Wilson who recently took over as boss of Tesco’s UK chain. “We want to offer our customers the ability to buy groceries and non-food products in one place and that’s why we are focusing our investment into one online platform.”
Tesco has been running two separate internet businesses in tandem: Tesco.com for grocery home deliveries and the Direct catalogue-style website for household goods and clothing, including its own F&F brand.
Tesco said the website, which will cease trading on 9 July, had struggled with the high cost of fulfilling orders and online marketing. Tesco said the plan would mean the closure of the distribution centre at Fenny Lock, Milton Keynes, which handles Tesco Direct orders.
