Profile: Dan Jago at Tesco

No stranger to contention or controversy, Tesco’s Dan Jago, category director for beers, wines and spirits at Tesco, is always happy to share his passionately held views, whether they be on the utility of wine price cuts or the importance of educating his customers.

His office walls, his check shirt, his trousers, even the sky through his office window may have been blue on the day we met, but Jago is currently feeling anything but blue.

This could merely be thanks to the mug of steaming coffee that’s just been delivered by his PA, it could be due to Tesco’s increasing BWS market share (among multiple grocers) which, at the time of meeting was 33.8%, it could be the launch of the huge category review, the rolling out of Tesco’s “Great with…“ initiatives, or its growing global presence. My bet is that his good mood is down to every single one of them.

Having said that, Jago’s upbeat persona is well-known to the trade. Equally well-known is his vociferous nature on many aspects of the trade, the wine trade in particular. But surely this is only to be expected. He is passionate about the industry in which he has had exposure to different periods and situations during his career, all of which have provided him with enough experience to enable him to draw authoritative observations, statements and conclusions.

His opinions are so sought after, his diary of appearances at seminars, debates and conferences doesn’t seem to be much less busy than that of Tony Blair. In November, he’s sitting on a panel alongside Robert Parker at Wine-Future-Rioja 2009, while in September he was on the panel for the WSTA’s low-alcohol forum in London, and the list goes on.

However, speaking as a Tesco representative at these events is just one part of his role as category director for BWS at the UK’s largest wine retailer. Does his multi-faceted role make it impossible to outline a typical working day? “It’s actually more typical than I would like,” he says, “I normally start early and finish late [so he can return to Dorset to see his family for long weekends]. Generally my days are split into thirds.”

The first third involves “looking at the trade, planning, understanding where we are this year in relation to last year, what we’ve got coming up that needs revisiting or reviewing. The second third looks at product range, how we are selling rather than how much we are selling, and the final third, the most important one, is spent with people. You can’t rely on the first two without the last one.”

And does this three-part day also involve digesting the constant slew of criticism levelled at retailers regarding wine discounts? “The only thing worse for the industry than retailers promoting wine would be if retailers didn’t promote wine. “We focus entirely on what our customers tell us they would like us to do.

"Any good retail business has to listen to its customers and we do it as well as anyone in the world, and our customers have found they have a comfortable relationship with promotions around wine.”

Jago’s defence of promotions also leads him to clarify customers’ wine wishes in the UK, a concept he feels is either forgotten or lost on a large proportion of the wine industry.

“Exclusivity and elitism have no place in the modern world. The majority of customers regard wine as an everyday alcoholic beverage made from grapes.

"It is not based on terroir, personification or esoteric relationships. It happens to be a more palatable, and in some cases a more socially acceptable form of beverage alcohol than spirits or beer. Therefore for many people it has become an easier form of alcohol to understand."

To read the full interview, see the October issue of the drinks business.

Jane Parkinson, 19.10.2009