Tesco Plc, the U.K.’s largest retailer, will start selling a cut-price tablet loaded with its own shopping applications next week as it takes on the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. in the digital space.
The 7-inch high-definition tablet called Hudl will sell for 119 pounds ($191) in Tesco stores and be available to members of the retailer’s Clubcard loyalty program for as little as 60 pounds in vouchers.
Only a quarter of U.K. households own a tablet and many customers feel they are too expensive, Tesco Chief Executive Officer Philip Clarke said at the unveiling of the new device in London Monday. Apple’s iPad with similar specifications sells for about 320 pounds and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD for about 160 pounds. The market for tablets will grow 37 percent this year after 140 percent last year, consultant e-marketer estimates.
Tesco’s device is “not expected to single handedly move the revenue or profit dial any time soon or ever,” Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital in Liverpool, said in a note. If it is well received, “it may contribute to what is clearly a hard-earned, but only very steady self-improvement program.”
(Bloomberg)
