Trust Tesco to cradle your baby

In yet another high street coup, Tesco has revealed that it is to open a baby store selling baby and toddler products. Clearly its shoppers trust the supermarket enough to hold the baby.

Be afraid, Mothercare, Be afraid.

Tesco taken on the telecoms firms with its Tesco Mobile network.

It’s taken on the banks with its financial services arm Tesco bank,

It’s taken on high street fashion brands with its F&F clothing range and it’s had a good look at the optician market and given the entertainment retailers a run for their money with its books, music and film offer.

Now, Tesco has set its sights on the baby market with the launch of a 6,000 sq ft section dedicated to all things baby in its Walkden store near Manchester. The store will also have specialist advisors on hand to give parents advice on products.

While Tesco is unlikely to topple financial institutions like Nationwide or HSBC and mobile networks O2 and Vodafone are hardly floundering at the feet of Tesco’s foray into mobile, many slated Tesco as the death knell for high street bookstores and entertainment retailers because its economies of scale meant that other retailers couldn’t compete on price.

Tesco set its sights on the baby market earlier this year after it recorded a boost in sales of baby products like cots.

Having baby is undoubtedly a costly affair and Mothercare aside, it’s a relatively under-served market for parents unwilling and unable to shell out the big bucks for high end designer gear for their little one, particularly after the collapse of Adams.

As Tesco has proved countless times before, it is able to provide its customers with the goods they need at a high quality standard, for an affordable price.

New parents want products for their babies they can trust and afford, so if Tesco can make this stick with “Baby World” it’s is yet again onto a winner.

The “Baby World” store is just a trial at the moment, but if it’s successful could find itself a space in every Tesco store or even extend into a chain of standalone sites.