Morrisons Newport Road in Cardiff was our store of the week in this sustainability-themed mystery shop. With 74 points, it scored highly on layout and standards.
Our shopper found its simple layout and “great signage” helpful. The fruit & veg section was enticing, the available offers felt relevant and store displays were “attractive”, they said. Plus, the food counters, food to go area, and click & collect areas were “very well” managed.
Staff were busy restocking products and “working hard” to prepare the shop for the weekend, but they were considerate of customers and did not cause aisle obstructions.
The only real downside was that the 28,000 sq ft branch did not stock several items on this week’s list, which hit its availability score. But our shopper noted there were many alternatives and that stock levels were good overall. Plus, there were plant-based and meat-free products aplenty across various sections, she noted.
Waitrose in East Grinstead followed closely with 73 points. Our shopper described this shop as quiet, clean, and well-stocked. Though stock levels were good, there were still a “huge” number of staff restocking shelves and picking for online orders. All colleagues were helpful when asked for assistance.
Availability was also good, our shopper buying 30 items. The meat counter in particular was a highlight.
However, there were several broken freezers, which resulted in broader availability issues.
Tesco’s East Kilbride shop scored well on many fronts, such as shop floor service, store standards and car park. However, poor availability lowered its score to 61 points.
On the plus side, our shopper enjoyed that Tesco was running a quiet hour between 9am-10am, when the lights were dimmed and there was no music being played. The store was clean and generally well stocked for its size.
However, layout felt “different” from other stores, our shopper said, which made it harder to locate some items. But staff were easy to find and “very helpful”, always checking for stock on their handheld devices. Even though availability wasn’t great, our shopper said they enjoyed the experience.
Asda’s Paignton branch disappointed with 53 points. It fared well on shop floor service, standards and car park. “The store is well lit and the windows were clean, which meant the foyer felt really warm and welcoming,” our shopper said. But it lost marks on availability – 10 items were not stocked.
In addition, our shopper found it tricky to spot shop floor staff, but everyone she interacted with was helpful. The checkout experience was also underwhelming with only three manned checkouts, of which one was closed.
Last place went to Sainsbury’s Castle Vale, which bagged only 40 points despite having the best availability score this week. None of our items were out of stock and four were not stocked. However our shopper noted there were several “half empty shelves”.
Our shopper said there were no visible promotions or enticing displays. There were, however, “many” restocking trolleys left unattended in the chilled aisles.
Layout was poor, making it hard to locate products. Shop floor service too was underwhelming, with our shopper even being misdirected at one point. Checkout was slow and staff did not open more tills to assist with queue management.
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