Supermarket giant, Tesco says it is considering to move more upmarket with smaller stores in the UK.

It is looking at testing convenience stores that only sell its upmarket own-label Finest products.

This would see it go head to head with Marks & Spencer’s Simply Food and Little Waitrose in the UK.

It told investors and analysts in London this week that it sees room to open more small stores in the UK. It already has 1,000 Tesco Express stores along with almost 780 Tesco outlets.

It also said it would increase its plant-based ready meals under the Plant Chef brand to 300 different items. It currently has only 32 plant-based items selling under its Wicked Kitchen Brand.

Tesco had a strong start to the year where overall grocery market growth in the UK was subdued. It outperformed in both sales and volume terms and saw first-quarter sales growth of 10%. It noted that UK online grocery sales were up 7% year-on-year.