The world's largest software maker
Microsoft Corp.
(
MSFT
) will now be selling its social platform to U.K.-based retailer
Tesco. Tesco will be using Microsoft Office 365 at its
headquarters and across stores and field offices in Europe and
Asia.
Deploying Microsoft Office 365 will enable employees of Tesco
to access the latest Microsoft Office software, eventually making
their job easier. The software will help in bringing together
Tesco's workforce on a single platform, thus allowing them to
transfer relevant information.
A new channel of functionality and communication will open up,
which will provide employees with the latest information about
products in the stores and work as a team. It will also help in
taking decisions. All of these will ultimately help in bringing
unique shopping experience to Tesco's customers.
Tesco plc is a multinational grocery and general merchandise
store. Founded in 1919, the chain expanded from just 500 stores
in the 1990s to 2,500 after two decades. It has diversified
retail items such as books, clothing, electronics, furniture,
petrol, software, financial services, telecom and Internet
services, DVD rental, and downloadable music.
Tesco has been facing challenges due to the economic downturn
and has been slowly losing market share at home. As per research
conducted by Kantar Worldpanel, Tesco's U.K. market share dropped
to 30.7% in November 2012 from 31.0% last year. All the other
super market companies are also losing some business.
On a global basis, Planet Retail noted that
Wal-Mart
(
WMT
) is the leading super market chain, followed by Carrefour and
Tesco. Thus, it makes sense for Tesco to collaborate with
Microsoft and enhance its business by implementing superior
software.
Microsoft has been battling a slump in the PC market, impacted
by an uncertain global economic climate. Further, smartphones and
tablets from
Apple Inc.
(
AAPL
) and
Google Inc.
(
GOOG
) have been cannibalizing PC market sales. Thus, such
collaborations may ease some pressure on Microsoft going
forward.
Microsoft reported revenue, excluding deferrals, of $16.01
billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, down 11.4%
sequentially and 7.9% from the year-ago period. Revenues also
missed the consensus by 2.5%.
Microsoft, Apple, Google and Wal-Mart all have a Zacks Rank #3
(Hold).
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