There were no perfect reports from our mystery shoppers this week, but thanks to a full basket and all-round good customer service, Sainsbury's in Richmond was the top store this week.
The only let-down was a seven-minute queue at the checkout, which wasn't helped by staff shutting yet more checkouts.
Asda in Cumbernauld had particularly poor availability, with four items out-of-stock. However, the store was very clean and the staff were chatty. There was also an impressive display of Mothers' Day merchandise.
Our Waitrose shopper noted low stock in the fresh produce and bread aisles and the red grapes were out-of-stock. When our shopper asked for assistance in finding the pâté, an assistant was rather overenthusiastic in suggesting the organic variant, but was helpful nonetheless.
At Morrisons in Ipswich, a checkout assistant made no eye contact, did not greet our shopper and did not offer to pack. The store was also a little worn, with trolleys that looked as if they had seen better days and cramped aisles.
There was mixed customer service at Tesco in Loughborough. When our shopper asked for help finding the Wall's sausages, the assistant made minimal effort to help. However, another assistant had a far better attitude when asked the whereabouts of the pâté and was very helpful.
Winner: Leigh Hogarty, store manager, Sainsbury’s , Richmond
Richmond is an affluent area how does this affect your trade? Our customers tend to be very successful couples and our average basket size is 10% higher than other Sainsbury's stores. Our main rival is Waitrose there are two one in Richmond and the other in Sheen. We also compete with Tesco. We sell a lot more organic food than other stores, and we are right by the train station so we get a lot of passing trade.
How much freedom does your head office give you? We have to go through head office and there isn't as much flexibility as there was a few years ago when every store looked different. But last autumn our local Waitrose had a major investment and so I was able to go though head office to improve the flow of the store. Before, there were several pinch points, but we removed the crates containing special offers from the aisles and limited replenishment during busy periods and it is now much better.
Is there anything else you would like to do to improve the store? Eventually I would like to extend the store and get a better non-food range with Tu clothing and more general merchandise. Tu clothing is one of the most common things customers ask for, along with a café. There is room for us to extend, but there are no immediate plans.
What new ranges have you recently launched? We just relaunched our free-from range last month with more choice. It now has 60 lines, with improved recipes for cakes, pitta bread, scones and chocolate. Some people buy it for health reasons, others buy the kiddie lines for lunchboxes as part of a mixed basket.
Has your store been featured in the local paper? We do work with local schools to show we are not just a supermarket. We hold Make the Difference days, which have been in the local paper. Recently we went into local schools with Fairtrade products to tell them about where they came from. We also did another project where we gave seeds to schools so the students could learn to grow their own vegetables. We then went back several months later with recipe books so they could learn to cook with the products they had grown.
The only let-down was a seven-minute queue at the checkout, which wasn't helped by staff shutting yet more checkouts.
Asda in Cumbernauld had particularly poor availability, with four items out-of-stock. However, the store was very clean and the staff were chatty. There was also an impressive display of Mothers' Day merchandise.
Our Waitrose shopper noted low stock in the fresh produce and bread aisles and the red grapes were out-of-stock. When our shopper asked for assistance in finding the pâté, an assistant was rather overenthusiastic in suggesting the organic variant, but was helpful nonetheless.
At Morrisons in Ipswich, a checkout assistant made no eye contact, did not greet our shopper and did not offer to pack. The store was also a little worn, with trolleys that looked as if they had seen better days and cramped aisles.
There was mixed customer service at Tesco in Loughborough. When our shopper asked for help finding the Wall's sausages, the assistant made minimal effort to help. However, another assistant had a far better attitude when asked the whereabouts of the pâté and was very helpful.
Winner: Leigh Hogarty, store manager, Sainsbury’s , Richmond
Richmond is an affluent area how does this affect your trade? Our customers tend to be very successful couples and our average basket size is 10% higher than other Sainsbury's stores. Our main rival is Waitrose there are two one in Richmond and the other in Sheen. We also compete with Tesco. We sell a lot more organic food than other stores, and we are right by the train station so we get a lot of passing trade.
How much freedom does your head office give you? We have to go through head office and there isn't as much flexibility as there was a few years ago when every store looked different. But last autumn our local Waitrose had a major investment and so I was able to go though head office to improve the flow of the store. Before, there were several pinch points, but we removed the crates containing special offers from the aisles and limited replenishment during busy periods and it is now much better.
Is there anything else you would like to do to improve the store? Eventually I would like to extend the store and get a better non-food range with Tu clothing and more general merchandise. Tu clothing is one of the most common things customers ask for, along with a café. There is room for us to extend, but there are no immediate plans.
What new ranges have you recently launched? We just relaunched our free-from range last month with more choice. It now has 60 lines, with improved recipes for cakes, pitta bread, scones and chocolate. Some people buy it for health reasons, others buy the kiddie lines for lunchboxes as part of a mixed basket.
Has your store been featured in the local paper? We do work with local schools to show we are not just a supermarket. We hold Make the Difference days, which have been in the local paper. Recently we went into local schools with Fairtrade products to tell them about where they came from. We also did another project where we gave seeds to schools so the students could learn to grow their own vegetables. We then went back several months later with recipe books so they could learn to cook with the products they had grown.
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