Asda’s Clapham Junction superstore in London claimed victory this week with 82 points. The branch was described by our mystery shopper as clean, bright and spacious.
Plenty of staff were around during our shopper’s Saturday morning trip, though most were busy restocking. That meant there were quite a few restocking trolleys on the shop floor, but they weren’t too obstructive to our shopper.
Staff were all polite and helpful, resulting in a perfect shop floor service score for Asda.
The store recorded the best availability score by far this week, as only the Tilda basmati rice was out of stock – and our visitor was promptly told when it would be back in stock. She noted strong supply levels throughout the store.
Morrisons’ Reading branch landed second place with 73 points. Our shopper particularly highlighted the food counters, as well as the “very attractive” Valentine’s Day promotional display on entry.
The store layout was easy to understand, and staff were helpful whenever she struggled to find an item. However, she was “surprised” to see stock availability was lacking throughout the store. In the end, she bought 28 items as three were out of stock and one was not stocked.
Additionally, there were lots of unmanned restocking trolleys around the shop.
However, our visitor noted her checkout experience was very pleasant due to the friendly till assistant and her interaction with her manager.
Third-placed Waitrose delivered a pleasant shopping experience for our visitor, who awarded it a solid 71 points. The supermarket’s Lincoln store was well-stocked – even though three of our items were out of stock – tidy and appeared well-managed.
Our shopper was most impressed by the Valentine’s Day and Easter displays, as well as the bakery section.
On the downside, the store did feel stretched in terms of shop floor staff. On two occasions, our shopper had to ask for help from the colleague managing the tills as he couldn’t find anyone else.
Tesco’s store in Tidworth followed with a two-point difference. Our mystery shopper said her first impression of the branch upon entering was “excellent”. The store felt spacious and relaxed, and the Valentine’s and Easter displays at the entrance were immediately eye-catching.
The store layout was easy to follow and it appeared well-stocked throughout, although our visitor could not buy a few items – two were out of stock and three were not stocked. She also found it frustrating some product labels were not on the shelves, making it hard to know if an item was out of stock or simply not stocked.
Shop floor service also received half marks as staff were polite but often too focused on restocking tasks to engage properly.
This week’s clear loser was Sainsbury’s in Sutton with 42 points. Our shopper found the flower section by the entrance created a bottleneck as people gathered there, which made it hard for her to enter the store.
She said the store was well-maintained, well-lit and clean. The fruit & veg section looked appealing and the store layout was easy to navigate.
However, four items were out of stock and shop floor service was lacking: staff were pleasant but none of them took her to the items in question. She also had to wait several minutes at the checkout due to long queues.
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