This week's winner is Tesco in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
It was the only store to provide a full basket and there was no wait at the tills. Other big plusses were that it was well presented and the staff were able to inform our mystery shopper exactly where certain items were located although they failed to offer to take her to the right aisle.
The member of staff who showed our shopper to the cottage cheese at Asda in Highbridge, Somerset, was friendly and chatty. But the store was cluttered with re-stocking trolleys and our shopper stumbled over a sign propped against a canned tomatoes display.
Sainsbury's in Banbury suffered from poor availability, with four out-of-stock items. The store also appeared understaffed, with long checkout queues and staff called away from restocking to open more tills.
Morrisons in Eccles was "a bit frantic", with staff and customers navigating their way around re-stocking carts. The checkout assistant said she was "just dying" for her break and staff were not particularly helpful.
There were car park troubles at Waitrose in Lewes, with four cars queuing for a space. Customer service was a mixed affair one floor assistant greeted our shopper with a big smile but the man on checkout looked at our shopper with disdain and she was relieved to leave afterwards.
Winner: David Sherlock, Store Manager, Tesco Aylesbury 2
The store is called Aylesbury 2 because there is another Tesco in town. Is your store affected by its proximity? As an Extra the other store is 15,000 sq ft bigger but most of that space is given to non-food so our fresh and ambient food offerings are very similar. Our operations aren't really affected as we serve different sides of the town.
Which categories are seeing the biggest uplift? Our clothing department is seeing the strongest year-on-year growth, which is great as we do not have as much footage as the Extra store. We have also been putting a lot of extra effort into our in-store bakery and deli, fish and meat counters. Customer feedback shows they really appreciate counter items where they can choose the products they like the look of and receive personal service.
Which promotions are doing well at the moment? Our fruit and veg deals of the week are very popular as they offer great prices on high volume staple products. We have also re-launched essential savings, giving customers great permanent price reductions on lots of everyday products.
Yours was the only store to stock a full basket. How do you keep high levels of availability? Availability is always high on the agenda for me, my team of managers and all of our 400 staff if a customer can't get what they want when they come shopping, it is one of their number-one frustrations. We have daily routines and meetings to monitor our availability performance and in the case of fresh foods, for example, this happens twice a day.
What's the biggest challenge you face as a manager? Juggling all the balls we have people to think about, both our staff and customers, financial KPIs, operational routines and processes to work on. I guess it all boils down to time management and planning.
Does the store participate in any community events? We recently let a local community group use our staff facilities and restaurant when they cleaned up the canal at the back of our store. We have also given an NHS breast screening unit space in our car park for four months.
It was the only store to provide a full basket and there was no wait at the tills. Other big plusses were that it was well presented and the staff were able to inform our mystery shopper exactly where certain items were located although they failed to offer to take her to the right aisle.
The member of staff who showed our shopper to the cottage cheese at Asda in Highbridge, Somerset, was friendly and chatty. But the store was cluttered with re-stocking trolleys and our shopper stumbled over a sign propped against a canned tomatoes display.
Sainsbury's in Banbury suffered from poor availability, with four out-of-stock items. The store also appeared understaffed, with long checkout queues and staff called away from restocking to open more tills.
Morrisons in Eccles was "a bit frantic", with staff and customers navigating their way around re-stocking carts. The checkout assistant said she was "just dying" for her break and staff were not particularly helpful.
There were car park troubles at Waitrose in Lewes, with four cars queuing for a space. Customer service was a mixed affair one floor assistant greeted our shopper with a big smile but the man on checkout looked at our shopper with disdain and she was relieved to leave afterwards.
Winner: David Sherlock, Store Manager, Tesco Aylesbury 2
The store is called Aylesbury 2 because there is another Tesco in town. Is your store affected by its proximity? As an Extra the other store is 15,000 sq ft bigger but most of that space is given to non-food so our fresh and ambient food offerings are very similar. Our operations aren't really affected as we serve different sides of the town.
Which categories are seeing the biggest uplift? Our clothing department is seeing the strongest year-on-year growth, which is great as we do not have as much footage as the Extra store. We have also been putting a lot of extra effort into our in-store bakery and deli, fish and meat counters. Customer feedback shows they really appreciate counter items where they can choose the products they like the look of and receive personal service.
Which promotions are doing well at the moment? Our fruit and veg deals of the week are very popular as they offer great prices on high volume staple products. We have also re-launched essential savings, giving customers great permanent price reductions on lots of everyday products.
Yours was the only store to stock a full basket. How do you keep high levels of availability? Availability is always high on the agenda for me, my team of managers and all of our 400 staff if a customer can't get what they want when they come shopping, it is one of their number-one frustrations. We have daily routines and meetings to monitor our availability performance and in the case of fresh foods, for example, this happens twice a day.
What's the biggest challenge you face as a manager? Juggling all the balls we have people to think about, both our staff and customers, financial KPIs, operational routines and processes to work on. I guess it all boils down to time management and planning.
Does the store participate in any community events? We recently let a local community group use our staff facilities and restaurant when they cleaned up the canal at the back of our store. We have also given an NHS breast screening unit space in our car park for four months.
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