Tesco feels wrath of Twitterverse thanks to Easter tweet

Tesco is encouraging people to arrange virtual Easter lunch cook-alongs amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“Easter is a time for getting together with your loved ones – whatever the situation. So why not host your own virtual Easter lunch cook-along like Nan? No matter what ingredients you have, you’ll find a recipe everyone will love here,” the grocery giant tweeted yesterday.

Enter a bunch of people who weren’t feeling the love. Instead, they opted to blast the retailer for ‘profiteering out of the coronavirus tragedy’ and ‘denying disabled, elderly and other customers who rely on food deliveries for survival’.

Also of interest: Tesco is working on a £45 contactless payments limit rise

Tesco announced this week that it would pay investors £900 million in dividends despite taking £585 million from the taxpayer in business rates relief.

“Could I have £10 worth of free shopping? In respect of the £10 for everyone in the country that you have appropriated by taking £600m of taxpayers money while giving more than that to your shareholders,” said one Twitter user.

“Easter is a time for claiming money from the taxpayer so you can funnel it into shareholders dividends. Might be a more honest Easter message!” another fumed.

As for delivery slots for the elderly and vulnerable, Tesco insists that it is working with the government to prioritise those without a support network.

But many remain unimpressed, with one person commenting: “Stop denying disabled, elderly & other customers who rely on food deliveries for survival. Tesco are complicit with the government in harming thousands of people who need & deserve protection.”

“My 76 year old mother who is housebound has been trying for weeks to get a delivery to bt41 while across the street at no risk have had two?” another claimed.

Others flagged up a poor in-store experience, with comments including: “I suggest everyone goes to Aldi or Lidl. Shelves are stocked and their staff do their utmost to assist the aged and vulnerable when they’re shopping. Tesco are just in it for the money and self-promotion and prices have increased too!”

RTIH says…

Whilst we at RTIH are not massive fans of Tesco (we prefer Sainsbury’s, if we’re being honest), we do wonder: what would the keyboard warriors like Tesco to do? Disregard their fiduciary duty to shareholders for the pre-Covid financial year? Voluntarily pay business rates that no one else is paying?

To quote retail analyst Bryan Roberts: “Sales have increased massively at the start of the current financial year - but this has been at huge expense. Plus a lot of these sales have simply been pulled forward: there will be many Tesco shoppers not buying bog roll, pasta or laundry detergent for the next six months.”