Waitrose boss Mark Price has urged the Competition Commission to take action to stop the UK turning into “Tescoland”.
He accused UK number-one supermarket Tesco being anti-competitive and using its financial strength to stamp out rivals.
Price said that if Tesco’s growth went unchecked, there could be only Tesco and Asda left in the market within a quarter of a century. “The commission needs to realise what is happening,” he said. “They are so aggressive and will buy everything to keep out the competition.”
The Competition Commission will report on it inquiry into supermarkets next month.
Price claimed that Tesco consumers are motivated by easy access, and he alleged that the efforts of rival supermarkets to buy sites were failing because of Tesco’s vast reserves, and that smaller players were suffering because of Tesco selling below cost.
“Tesco says it doesn’t underprice, but they put millions into their offers and bombard people with them and that is how they stamp out competition,” Price said.
Tesco was quick to respond.
“Waitrose should know full well it is a very competitive market out there,” said a Tesco spokesman. “More than 94 per cent of the population has access to three or more supermarkets. There is plenty of choice out there and we are confident the Competition Commission will find that in its inquiry.”
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