In 2008, Tesco announced their intention to invest an initial £60m ($115m) to open a wholesale cash-and-carry business based in Mumbai with the assistance of the Tata Group. In April 2015, Tesco entered into a joint-venture with China Resources Vanguard to operate a range of convenience stores entitled "U Select". The venture was officially announced in October, with Tesco holding a 20% stake and was closed in May 2014. In August 2013, Tesco announced that they were in talks to merge their Chinese operations with the state-run China Resources Enterprise (CRE) to create a joint venture, which would combine their 131 stores with CRE's nearly 3,000 outlets. In 2014, the joint venture between Tesco and Tata was confirmed, where investment by the earlier was reportedly 140 million dollars, becoming the first foreign supermarket to enter India. In 2008, Tesco announced its intention to invest an initial £60m (US$115m) to open a wholesale cash-and-carry business based in Mumbai with the assistance of the Tata Group. In April 2011, the Irish Times said that "Increasingly, Ireland is being viewed as a provincial backwater by the parent company – albeit a very profitable little backwater – and all the strategic decisions are being taken in the UK. Tesco has been a market leader within the Czech Republic and is one of the largest supermarket chains in the country, operating over 322 stores by 2012, upwards of 300 by 2007.
In January 2022, Tesco shut down its Jack's stores, with stores either being closed or converted to Tesco Superstores. In June 2016, Tesco sold the company to a group of investors led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital for £217 million. The company continued to trade under its own brand, from its own head office in Melville, near Edinburgh. In May 2021, Tesco retired the brand, as only 31% of customers were using the stores for larger shops. They were mainly located in town centres and other urban locations and were designed to accommodate larger weekly shops as well as top-up shopping. Tesco closed six Homeplus shops in March 2015, and the remaining six shops closed in June 2015.
The company opened its first hypermarket in Wrocław Bielany in 1998. In April 2013, Tesco Malaysia launched the Grocery Home Shopping Service, where it delivered groceries ordered via the Internet to consumers, with no tesco spins minimum purchase imposed. In December 2006, Tesco purchased the local operations of Dutch supermarket chain Makro for £80 million and rebranded them under the Tesco Extra name. In December 2000, Tesco entered into a joint venture with trading conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad to operate Tesco-branded Hypermarkets in Malaysia. In September, C Two-Network Co, Ltd. was renamed to Tesco Japan Co, Ltd. and later launched a range of software. These stores, also based within Tokyo, would be folded under C-Two Network and rebranded under the Tsurukame name, expanding Tesco's operations in Japan to 104 stores. In April 2004, Tesco purchased the bankrupt supermarket chain Fre'c.
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As a virtual operator, Tesco Mobile does not own or operate its own network infrastructure. It operates as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) using the network of O2. In July 2008, Tesco bought out the Royal Bank of Scotland's 50% stake in the company for £950 million. The business made a profit of £130 million for the 52 weeks to 24 February 2007, of which Tesco's share was £66 million. It has been cited as a pivotal development in Tesco's progress towards becoming the UK's largest supermarket chain and one that fundamentally changed the country's supermarket business. In 1995,Tesco launched its customer loyalty scheme, the Tesco Clubcard. In 1998, Tesco and Esso (part of ExxonMobil) formed a business alliance that included several petrol filling stations on lease from Esso, with Tesco operating the attached shops under its Express format.
In 2012 it was reported that Tesco was looking to close the business to focus on groceries. The shops offered all of Tesco's ranges except food in warehouse-style units in retail parks. Although Tesco continued to stock non-food items the stand-alone shops were closed and the name was no longer in use when Tesco Extra was launched. Support company called The PC Guys in 2007, and were able to launch Tesco Tech Support in December 2008. Its broadband service was launched in August 2004 to complement its existing internet service provider business, providing an ADSL-based service delivered via BT phone lines.
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We are confident you will find everything you were wanting at a good price; you can compare these offers with other Supermarkets. Tesco has a famous Clubcard loyalty scheme where you will collect points for every £1 spent and have access to exclusive discounts. You can shop in store or select ‘click and collect’, where your groceries will be bagged for you by a staff member for you to pick up. So, whether you are shopping for a family get together or just to fill the pantry, there will be a Tesco offer that will save you money. She found some evidence of benefits which suppliers derive from these arrangements but also recorded a concern—to be investigated further—as to whether the purpose of the Groceries Code was being circumvented by these payments.
In May 2019, an undercover investigation of a Tesco egg supplier in Asia found that Tesco was serving Southeast Asian customers eggs from battery cage farms. In August 2013, Tesco was fined £300,000 after admitting that it misled customers over the pricing of "half-price" strawberries. In 1992, Tesco started a "computers for schools scheme", offering computers in return for vouchers given to Tesco customers and donated by them to schools and hospitals. According to Kantar Worldpanel, Tesco's share of the UK groceries market in the 12 weeks to 26 January 2025 was 28.5%, up from 27.8% in the 12 weeks to 28 January 2024. In April 1999, Tesco entered into a 51-49% joint venture with Samsung C&T Corporation entitled Tesco-Samsung, with the latter's supermarket chain Homeplus merging under it. In March 2020, Tesco sold Tesco Malaysia to the Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand Group for US$10.6bn, including debt, in a deal that included the Thailand operations. At the end of March 2014, ÆON Every's remaining stores were closed or sold, and the company ceased operations. C Two-Network owned a Japanese supermarket chain called Tsurukame, which had 78 mid-sized stores based within Tokyo.
The Tesco supermarket chain is involved in litigation such as the Ward v Tesco Stores Ltd and Tesco Supermarkets Ltd v Nattrass cases. In September 2025, an RTÉ investigation found that Tesco was selling products supplied by factories linked to a forced labour programme. Employees reported working up to 99 hours a week, receiving wages significantly below the Thai legal minimum, and having their immigration documents retained by the factory management. In December 2022, a The Guardian investigation revealed that Burmese migrant workers at the VK Garment Factory in Thailand, which produced F&F clothing for Tesco between 2017 and 2020, were subjected to forced labour conditions. In November 2020, a BBC investigation uncovered allegations of routine exploitation in southern Indian garment factories supplying several major British retailers, including Tesco.