Magazine: Tesco holds on to their market leading position and keeps investing in Hungary

Since April Gerry Gray has been Tesco Hungary’s new CEO. He joined the Tesco team in 1988 as a shelf-replenisher and kept climbing up the corporate ladder in the following 15 years. He had spent 4 years in Thailand as operations director, followed by a 20-month stint in the UK as head of the Express format before he was appointed CEO of Tesco Hungary. He was glad to take on the challenge.

Mr Gray, a father of three has Scottish roots and finds Budapest amazing. He is aware of the fact that Tesco became a key actor in various fields of the Hungarian economy in the last 16 years, for instance the company is the country’s second biggest employer. As the fifth biggest investor and taxpayer, Tesco Hungary has been vastly contributing to revitalising the economy and to realising the objectives of successive governments. Tesco helps domestic suppliers to enter foreign markets with their products, as on an annual level export amounts to HUF 21 billion. – We are present in 14 countries and we are market leaders or number two in each of them. Every year we invested more in Hungary than the profit we realised. I would like to continue this trend but for this we need a stable economic environment and a level playing field for each competitor. Tesco aims at establishing a proactive and honest relationship with the government, professional organisations and the media – stated the new CEO. He added that it was a great responsibility to satisfy the demand of 3.5 million customers every week. Tesco’s priorities remain serving customers, being aware of their needs and acquiring their loyalty – at the moment there are 1.2 million Clubcard holders. Tesco has always championed the supporting of local communities, this is the reason why the company launched the Community Ambassador programme in Hungary too. Tesco’s future plans include the introduction of new financial products, plus several new services such as mobile communication and online shopping.