Tesco.com

Applications for the Tesco.com graduate programme are now closed.

Quite simply, Tesco.com is the largest, most profitable e-commerce site in the UK and the world's largest online grocery retailer.  Launched in 2000 and set up as a business within its own right, as a Tesco.com employee you gain the benefit of working for the world’s 3rd largest retailer, whilst experiencing the stimulating and dynamic working environment that a smaller business can offer.  So, if you have an entrepreneurial spirit and the drive to succeed within an exciting growth area, the Tesco.com graduate scheme is definitely for you.

What is 'Tesco.com?'

Tesco.com is our on-line superstore.  A core area of the business is the grocery website where customers order their groceries online, have them picked from a store and delivered to their door.  Tesco Direct also offers a huge range of ‘non food’ items, including PCs, home electricals, furniture, toys, sports equipment and entertainment through the website and our catalogue.  To make all this possible, we have a large and varied team, and it’s worth noting straight way that although we are the world’s most profitable e-commerce website, there is a lot more to the business than just IT.  For example, there are Tesco.com teams that decide the products to offer to customers, working hard with suppliers and commercial teams to get the best deals.  Others create new ways to distribute and make products accessible, innovating ways to stock products in the store or making returns more efficient and effective.  Likewise, there are specialist teams utilizing new technologies and innovations, mapping delivery routes through complex algorithms, investigating new business opportunities, finding greener and more environmentally friendly ways to operate … and much more!

Whilst all of this is happening, we also have exciting growth plans for the future, including exporting our Tesco.com model internationally, launching an online fashion website this autumn and a massive IT change programme to update and improve the service we provide for customers.  So, hopefully you can see there is a world of opportunity for you at Tesco.com, whatever your skills and interests.

The Tesco.com graduate scheme:

As you would expect from such a fast paced business, we have a fast-paced graduate scheme.  The Tesco.com graduate scheme is an accelerated 12 month programme, with rotations around different business areas providing you with the right skills and experiences to springboard your career.  Following your induction period, where you’ll gain experience in stores and supply chain, you’ll undertake three 12- week office placements – just long enough for you to land a project whilst keeping your learning curve steep!  As part of these placements you will be involved in new projects as well as embedding yourself within our business areas, which have been described below by the teams themselves:

Marketing - Acting as the “customer champion” for the Tesco.com business. An important part of our job is to research and understand what our customers think about our service and influence the business to deliver an ever improving shopping experience. We also design and create the communications that our customers see, most importantly everything on the website and in our stores. We create a trade plan of promotions and events to attract and inspire our customers, and communicate our offers through various media – from online advertising to press and e-mail.

Business Development – Supporting Tesco.com's CEO in creating the strategic agenda for Tesco on the Internet. We have a diverse workload covering many different types of projects and industries. We get involved in all aspects of new business development - ranging from idea generation and business design, through to negotiating partnerships or acquiring interesting companies.

Information Technology – Providing all Information Technology systems to support Tesco.com. As well as the website, this includes in-store systems, the leading-edge reporting tools used in the office and using new and improving technologies. By supporting the business we help to deliver change and improve the customer experience.

Operations Development - Initiate, develop and implement change. For the grocery home-shopping business model this means discovering ways to make our business simpler and easier to use, designing solutions that improve efficiency, reduce costs and improve customer service. For Tesco Direct, this means searching for ways to continuously improve this relatively new business model. This involves managing a whole range of projects, from warehousing to operational improvement, all through from conception to delivery.

Grocery Operations – Supporting the Tesco.com operation within stores. The Response team manages the communication, training and capacity of our Dotcom departments and provides Information Technology support.  In Fleet, we look after the Dotcom fleet of vans, whilst the Facilities team manages the design and implementation of any Dotcom property work in store. The Store team supports and coaches our Dotcom Managers and last but not least, the Driver team upholds the training and safety for our Customer Delivery Assistants.

You could also be working with and alongside other departments within Tesco.com, such as International, Commercial, Media Publishing, Fulfillment or Tesco Diets.

The exposure offered by the Tesco.com graduate scheme is therefore perfect if you want to gain real breadth in your career, or want to experience variety before deciding on the area in which to specialise. 

So how do I apply?

Recruitment Schedule
14th September 2009 Online application opens
31st December 2009 GRADUATE APPLICATION DEADLINE
November 2009 – February 2010 Telephone Interviews
November 2009 – February 2010 Psychometric Testing
December 2009 – February 2010 Graduate Interviews at Tesco
27th January 2010 Graduate Assessment Centre
3rd February 2010 Graduate Assessment Centre
24th February 2010 Graduate Assessment Centre
3rd March 2010 Graduate Assessment Centre
September 2010 Graduates Start

To be Successful in this role you’ll need:

  • A minimum 2.1 degree in any discipline (or expected to achieve)
  • 240 UCAS Points, or equivalent (excluding General Studies)
  • Commercial awareness
  • Team working skills
  • The ability to influence, plan and prioritise
  • Strong numerical, analytical and conceptual thinking skills
  • Entrepreneurial Spirit

And here are some more facts to tempt you!

  • Tesco.com delivers to about 99% of all postcodes in the UK
  • Tesco.com has over £25M grocery sales per week from over 300 stores
  • We have over 2,000 vans and over 7,000 Drivers and Customer Delivery Assistants delivering our orders nationally
  • Over 300,000 active customers
  • Over 950,000 registered customers in South Korea

Still not convinced, find out more from some of our graduates.