Tesco's sales surge as it expands online business in response to pandemic

Tesco's sales have surged in recent months.

The supermarket group said sales jumped by 8% to £13.4 billion in the three months to May.

It said this was particularly driven by a 48.5% jump in UK online sales for the quarter, with online sales soaring by more than 90% in the month of May.

Dave Lewis, chief executive of Tesco, said: “Through a very challenging period for everyone, Tesco colleagues have gone above and beyond, and I’m extremely proud of what they’ve achieved.

“Their selfless efforts, combined with our embedded strategic advantages in stores and online, have helped to ensure that everyone can get the food they need in a safe environment.

“In just five weeks, we doubled our online capacity to help support our most vulnerable customers and transformed our stores with extensive social distancing measures so that everyone who was able to shop in store could do so safely.

“The costs of doing this have been significant and only partly offset by business rates relief and increased volume.

“We see the balance as an investment in supporting our customers at a time when they need it most.”

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