Irish people to charge Tesco €500K for fridge space

€500,000: Every Little Helps, I suppose.

According to the Irish Times, British retailer Tesco is intimidating Irish businesses into coughing up large sums of money for the honour of being allowed to put their goods on Tesco's shelves. Sound insane? Well, what makes it crazier is that if you enter the hallowed halls of an Irish Tesco supermarket, there's lots of cheery signs telling you that they stock Irish goods. Yet....

The country's biggest retailer has been telling individual suppliers they must pay sums of up to €500,000 in order to have a presence in its 119 stores around the country, The Irish Times has learned.

Blather suggests that as a corresponding measure, Tesco customers should start charging the supermarket chain for its ongoing presence in the fridges of the Irish Consumer. Tesco makes about €250 million a year in Ireland, apparently about €124 per customer. Blather proposes that Irish Tesco customers start levying a charge of say €5 each time they spend €100 at a Tesco supermarket. That way Tesco can retain this crucial presence in the Irish market. Don't you just love the economics of it?

Blather has forwarded these suggestions to Tesco. We await their response.

The Irish Times: Irish suppliers claim Tesco seeks up to €500,000 to stock goods