Partnering with Re_Set enabled Tesco to stay a step ahead of the competition, as well as make positive changes within the business
When Tesco wanted to ensure it was staying ahead of trends and technologies that could revolutionise the business, it chose to partner with Re_Set.
The brand’s Group Innovation team wanted to challenge leadership assumptions around emerging technologies and innovations, as well as bring confidence that future trends were being monitored. The team also recognised the opportunity to learn from innovators and nascent trends across other industries and geographies.
The result? A bespoke unconstrained innovation scan that explored not only the most innovative ideas already in market, but the technologies being used in other industries that could address opportunities and challenges at Tesco, plus – crucially – the innovations that Tesco had no awareness of yet.
“The outputs delivered by Re_Set were extremely comprehensive and accelerated our thinking. The deep dives provided real insight into the trends we are seeing throughout the world which will drive our commercial thinking.”
Will Houldsworth, Innovation Director, Tesco
The challenge
As the biggest retailer and second largest pharmacy business in the UK, Tesco is ideally placed to set the agenda in terms of some of the big challenges of today – from sustainability, to health and nutrition, for the UK. The Re_Set team provided a strategic partner to help understand the opportunities and establish ways to move forward.
Together, we also considered some of the barriers to doing this, from digesting large volumes of data, bringing consumers on a journey, and finding the space and time to think beyond business as usual.
What we did
Tesco trusted Re_Set to explore the opportunities that the brand would be faced with, as well as rethinking and reframing how customers could be engaged when presented with something different to the status quo. We explored the benefits when teams find opportunities to work together, for example: connecting those focused on innovation, sustainability, and finance.
Embedding ourselves within Group Innovation at Tesco was key to understanding and delivering the brief. Early on, we spent time with each of the stakeholders to understand their own perspectives and nuances. Knowing the focus of the engagement was to bring external stretch we also engaged experts as part of the stakeholder discussions. These included academics, start-up founders, data engineers and health-tech experts to help us understand the issues and opportunities relevant to the topics we were exploring.
“We were so encouraged to see the openness of Tesco’s Group Innovation team to new thinking from around the world.”
Emma Nineham, Director, Re_Set
Our methodology was then applied to the brief, to ensure we captured the multiple dimensions of the review. Desk research was combined with innovation-scanning to determine a theme and sub-theme long list. Following validation with internal Re_Set experts and Tesco, we determined a shortlist.
Using the shortlist as a base, a targeted innovation-scouting assessment was made, using our innovation intelligence hub, Springwise. Home to more than 11,000 innovations from around the world, it offers an insight into the latest thinking from innovators across a range of sectors.
A series of agile ‘intervention’ workshops and discussions were used to align and validate suitability within Tesco, which led to a set of prioritised themes and possible applications to Tesco’s future. A series of ‘deep dives’ looked in depth at each option, which led to a ‘challenge and stretch’ session to answer key questions including: did the options have a real-world relevance for the business? And which insights from the team could we incorporate into our thinking?
The result was our unconstrained innovation report. Our most comprehensive intelligence report option, this included the curated list of global innovations, and analysis and applicability of the themes explored ensuring actionable ‘takeaways’ for Tesco, packaged up in an insights and action-driven report. Collaboration and an agile approach ensured that we could focus on delivering the work in four months, from the project kick-off to the final report.
Applying the insights
Identifying innovation options is one thing, making them happen is another. Beyond the deep dives, we have been helping Tesco consider key levers to embed innovation, including:
- Proposition development: how might we help Group Innovation bring these insights and ideas to fruition?
- Culture of innovation: how can Tesco permeate a culture of innovation across the organisation?
- Sustainability mindset: how can Tesco develop a common understanding and knowledge-base across the business, from leadership to the shop floor?
The impact
Tesco Group Innovation wanted to accelerate its thinking on how innovation can help the brand differentiate from its competitors. Re_Set’s work has helped them push the brand to stay a step ahead – influencing and involving key stakeholders to make positive change within the business.
“Working with the UK’s biggest retailer enabled Re_Set to cast the net wide and explore innovations that affected all parts of the business,” says Emma Nineham, Director, Re_Set. “We were so encouraged to see the openness of Tesco’s Group Innovation team to new thinking from around the world, and to partner to explore how supermarkets are likely to be disrupted in the years to come.”
Want to know more? Get in touch with Emma Nineham, or sign up to our newsletter for more insights
