Up Close and Personal with Georg Fischer, Tesco Malaysia CEO

by **Cals** Sun 17 Nov 2013, 21:10

Published: Saturday November 16, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday November 16, 2013 MYT 7:24:29 AM
Up Close and Personal with Georg Fischer, Tesco Malaysia CEO
BY EUGENE MAHALINGAM
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GEORG Fischer, Tesco Malaysia new chief executive officer (CEO), likes to think of himself as a “curious guy” – at least when it comes to being proficient at his job.
“I like to be open and curious. As CEO, you need to do this,” he tells StarBizWeek.
“It’s not enough to just have a product in your stores. You need to personally taste it, experience it, share it with your friends and find out if they like it or not. If they don’t, why not? So yes, I’m a curious guy. It’s how I ensure that we stay competitive.”
As the head of Tesco, Fischer says it’s important to interact with the store’s employees and personally reach out to its customers.
“To understand the customer, it’s important to be near them. I spend a lot of time in the stores, to also understand the products and the quality.
“Once you understand your customers better, you become a better retailer.”
Fischer was appointed Tesco Malaysia’s CEO in January. Prior to this, he was chairman of the management board of Lidl Stiftung & Co KG’s Belgian operations. Lidl, a German global discount supermarket chain is based in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg and operates more than 10,000 stores across Europe.
Before assuming Lidl’s operations, Fischer in 2004 led Lidl’s Switzerland operations as its chairman of the management board where he founded the Lidl country operations in Switzerland.
In addition to achieving retail success for the Lidl Group, Fischer has been credited for the revitalisation of the Belgian Lidl organisation, having helped it grow its sales, customer base and revenue, as well as setting-up and leading the national logistics department in France while minimising costs.
Fischer began his retail career at Lidl in 1999 as store manager before moving on to become the divisional head of National Logistics where he lead the national logistics and waste disposal department.
Staying ahead
As part of his business philosophy, Fischer has in place what he calls the “five Ps” that Tesco focuses on to “stay ahead of the game” – namely price, promotions, people, place and product.
“It’s a simple philosophy that we adhere to just to stay competitive,” Fischer says.
In terms of pricing, he says that Tesco strives to offer its products at competitive costs.
“When the cost of a product is competitive, customers are more likely to be comfortable and trusting of your brand.”
Fischer adds that Tesco is also big on promotions.
“Promotional campaigns are big in Malaysia which customers look forward to. We also try to get regular feedback from them to finds ways on how we can have better, more exciting and enticing campaigns.
“We also have big festive seasons in Malaysia and we need to create campaigns to bring excitement to our customers.”
Fischer says Tesco invests significantly in its people.
“We invest a lot in training, such as apprenticeship and leadership programmes. My philosophy has always been that you should treat others as how you’d like to be treated.”
With 47 stores nationwide, Fischer says it’s important that the places where its hypermarkets are set up are designed to cater to the demographics within that location.
“We try to make sure that the store size fits the community and that the priority of our product mix and range suits that particular location. For instance, in upmarket locations it would be a mistake to have a lot of products that are price sensitive.”
Tesco gets its products from 3,600 suppliers, of which 1,100 are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“We have the scale to provide quality products and the number of suppliers we have is growing,” says Fischer.
Going forward, he says Tesco aims to improve its service offerings by enhancing its online shopping options.
“We are already offering online shopping to customers within the Klang Valley. We see a huge opportunity (for online shopping) as Malaysia is a modern country and online penetration is always increasing.”
Fischer says Tesco’s online shopping medium has yielded encouraging results so far.
“We have already started our online shopping. Right now, we provide a guarantee that our customers will receive their products within 48 hours. We’re working on reducing that to 24 hours.
“Also, we’re looking to extend our online service to Penang and Johor.”
Caring hypermart
According to Fischer, Tesco is big on giving back to the community.
Amongst the many initiatives are raising funds to support Yayasan Chow Kit to provide a safe and healthy environment for the underprivileged and troubled children in the Chow Kit area, “Helping Children with Leukaemia” via its Walk For Life Campaign and many more.
Tesco has also taken the initiative to tackle climate change in Malaysia. In 2012, it embarked on a three-year commitment to plant 500,000 trees across the nation.
Tesco also supports SMEs in several areas – one of which is its Transformation of Small Retail Shops or TUKAR programme, through which it has helped over 190 traditional retailers transform their businesses.
Under its Bazaar Rakyat programme, Tesco also gives small traders, preferential access to space at its malls.
Family man
Fischer, 38, hails from Germany and is the youngest child from a family of seven.
“Family is important to me and when you come from a big family, you have to find your own way to make it,” he says on growing up.
“But I was very inspired by my parents and everything I learnt while growing up, I try to pass on to my own children.”
Fischer is married with two daughters and they currently enjoy life in Malaysia. Personally, the Tesco supremo says he is very happy that Malaysians are big football fans.
“It was nice to see (German football club) Bayern Munich win the Champions League recently,” he says.
As a man that spends a lot of time being in the stores around the country, Fischer says he does find it difficult to engage in recreational activities.
“I do try to go to the gym whenever I can but it can get difficult to make time. You have to be with the business a lot of the time. During the weekends, I travel to different stores in different states around the country.”
But be it at work or outside the office, Fischer says his philosophy is simple: “At the end of the day, you create your own destiny because only you can make a difference.
“Even in situations of disappointment, you learn from your mistakes and make it better.”
PERSONAL: Married with two children

CAREER: Senior executive Tesco PLC, chairman of the management board in Belgium, Lidl; chairman of the management board in Switzerland, Lidl; divisional head of national Logistics, Lidl; district manager, Lidl

HOBBY: Enjoys playing football and is a big football fan

VALUES: Believes in creating one’s own destiny and sees the glass as always half full and not half empty