Tesco Hungary Expands at Shell Gas Stations

Tesco's withdrawal from Poland is not an ominous sign, but rather a good opportunity for the Hungarian subsidiary to strengthen its regional role, Zsolt Pártos, CEO of Tesco Hungary, told the Hungarian daily paper Világgazdaság.

He also talked about the fact that although Tesco closed stores, new doors opened in parallel. "It is not the channel that matters, but the location where we are present, where we try to make the potential in terms of purchasing power visible in business results. However, the opportunities provided by a location can change radically in 10-15 years, for example, if an office building or public institution opens its doors nearby," the company executive said.

Tesco continues to expand at gas stations: they have already opened nineteen mini-shops at the Shell stations and new ones will open in the future, he added.

This is not the first time that Tesco has chosen a petrol station solution. The chain first opened its own service station in 2004 and in the following years, set up a network of more than 50 gas stations. Then, in February 2009, Tesco announced that Shell would operate the Tesco gas stations. Under an agreement between the two companies at the time, Tesco would lease the stations for 15 years, and Shell would be responsible for fuel supply and the operation of the shops. In May 2017, Tesco announced that it considered the Shell collaboration to be successful, but due to the changed market environment and their differing strategic ideas, the two companies ended the cooperation. However, in January this year, the two companies entered into a partnership again, resulting in the establishment of 19 gas station shops.