Stock levels were much improved across the board once again this week, but Sainsbury’s took the victory with a calm and well ordered Saturday morning shop at its Newquay store.
Only a few areas were short of stock, including home baking and tinned, and our shopper noted that availability in fresh produce, dairy, bakery and frozen sections was “particularly strong”, while lots of staff were restocking across the shop - all “incredibly helpful”.
Gondolas were heavily focused on Easter eggs - with the space in front of the closed deli counter also used for chocolate, but also BBQ items due to the hot weather. However, our shopper was surprised there were no displays for legs of lamb and other joints.
Waitrose in Woking had the best availability this week, with just two products on our shopper’s list not making the basket. “There didn’t seem to be much missing at all,” she said. “The pasta section was a little sparse, as were the cleaning products, but there was still a decent choice. I didn’t see a lot of staff replenishing shelves, but to be fair they didn’t need to.”
Our mystery shopper was also impressed at the organised queue system outside the store, with cones, two security staff on the door and an assistant wiping down trolleys after each use. However, the car park was “messy” with discarded gloves and wipes on the floor. Points were lost for a mistake at the till, with one item scanned twice.
The music playlist at Morrisons in Guiseley, Leeds, raised a smile from our shopper, with song choices including ‘Bare Necessities’ and ‘I Will Survive’. Despite a long queue spanning the whole car park, staff effectively managed shoppers. Trolleys were handed out without need of pound coins to speed up the process.
Inside, the store was “calm and ordered” and well stocked - aside from pasta, tinned tomatoes, eggs and soap - with more staff than usual working on shelf replenishment.
Morrisons lost points for obstructions caused by restocking trolleys and staff stacking shelves, which made social distancing more difficult. “It got a little hairy in the freezer area,” our shopper said. “There seemed to be quite a lot of staff restocking the freezers and the large trolleys were obstructing the aisle. Everyone was trying their best to keep out of everyone’s way.” Points were also lost for a large sugar spillage, which was not cleaned up.
A fire alarm also made the shopping trip more stressful as staff and customers had to abandon their trolleys and exit the store. “This was the only time I was worried about social distancing as there was nobody to really manage customers outside,” the shopper added. “Everyone was eager to get back in-store, with people rushing and not really caring about social distancing.”
Despite being generally well stocked, Tesco in Basildon lagged behind rivals on availability, with six lines out of stock, including onions, blueberries, dried mixed fruit, frozen Yorkshire puddings and handwash. Customers were handed antibacterial wipes upon entry to use on trolleys and the store implemented a one-way system with arrows on the floor. “The staff were all friendly and smiling,” our shopper said. “It was actually a really nice shop for a Saturday morning.”
Asda in Birkenhead was clean and not busy, but the small store gathered fewer marks than rivals because of a lack of services such as click & collect and less room in which to practice safe social distancing.
Results this week
| Asda | Morrisons | Sainsbury’s | Tesco | Waitrose | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Birkenhead | Guiseley, Leeds | Newquay | Langdon Hills, Basildon | Goldsworth Park, Woking |
| Date | 11/04/2020 | 11/04/2020 | 11/04/2020 | 11/04/2020 | 11/04/2020 |
| Time slot | 9am-12pm | 9am-12pm | 9am-12pm | 9am-12pm | 9am-12pm |
| Shop starts | 09:00 | 10:25 | 09:45 | 09:10 | 09:00 |
| Visit Duration | 01:00 | 02:25 | 01:30 | 01:46 | 00:47 |
| Shop Duration | 00:45 | 01:40 | 01:20 | 01:15 | 00:27 |
| Cost | £47.33 | £60.60 | £119.99 | £67.02 | £82.39 |
| Car Park (10) | 5 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
| Signposting (up to 1) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Queueing time to park (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Trolleys (up to 2) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Queueing time from parking the car to enter the store (up to 3) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Feedback (up to 2) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| There were two members of staff letting people in, in an orderly fashion, no stickers outside but they did in the store with arrows. Other stores Ive been to staff offer to spray the trolley with cleaner, but no one did here | I entered the car park easily and was able to find a space quickly. Staff were effectively managing the queue and stickers were in place on the ground to mark social distancing. To speed up the process, trolleys had been separated and were freely available to customers (they usually cost £1). The queue was long and spanned round the whole car park. There were barriers in use. |
Staff were managing entry to the store rather than the queue per se so as to minimise the number of shoppers entering the store. This was done in an orderly and pleasant way. Tape was in place only for the first five or so places. After that shoppers were left to their own discretion to determine the appropriate gap. However, the queue didn’t extend much beyond that and in any case all the shoppers maintained an appropriate gap of their own volition. |
There were barriers guiding you to queue and signs saying about social distancing. On the floor there was yellow tape showing where to stop. Two employees letting people through into the store as people left. Another employee handing out jeyes cloth squares soaked in antibac for you to use on your trolley. |
Very organised queue system into the store including cones to indicate direction of queue. Two security men on the door clocking people in and out. Young assistant in the trolley bay cleaning trollies with spray and paper towel once they had been returned. Inside the store there were signs advising of keeping your distance and some aisles had been “taped off” to ensure people filtered around in a logical order without doubling back on themselves. |
|
| Store standards (20) | 12 | 12 | 18 | 16 | 15 |
| First impression (up to 5) | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Feedback | The store was clean, not busy, didnt see any wipes or hand sanitiser, they had arrows on the floor to direct flow of shoppers |
The store appeared calm and ordered. There appeared to be a lot of additional staff than usual working to stock shelves. There were a lot of notices in store - one at the entrance entitled “Feeding the Nation” - #itsmorethanourjob - explained about new initiatives such as the creation of new jobs, the NHS hour, protective screens for staff and food bank pledge. There was also a board explaining safety at tills. Staff were dotted around the store with placards showing next available tills and measures were in place to assist social distancing around the tills - this included markings on the floor and again, more staff to help direct customers to where they should wait. I didn’t see any hand sanitiser or wipes available for customers in store today. |
The first impression was that the store was quiet both in terms of noise and the number of shoppers. There were quite a few store staff at the entrance (maintaining a proper distance from one another), including two people at the customer service desk. |
This store had made the aisles one way with arrow guides on the floor. I tried to walk the wrong way and Ben on the fruit counter drew my attention to the arrows. I apologised and went the correct way, he laughed and said I wasn’t the first not to notice | Unfortunately the car park was a mess with a lot of discarded gloves and wipes on the floor. The store itself seemed very calm and ordered, and there was a cheerful female member of staff welcoming people at the door. |
| Displays (up to 3) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Display feedback | Only displays were easter stuff and reduced. | There was a home learning stand near the tills which offered multi-buy promotional packs of home learning for various ages of children. On promotional ends there was huge 1kg bags of rice and supersize bags of teabags. I also noticed very large sizes of margarine. The store has obviously adapted to the ideology that customers want to stock buy/buy more but shop less. Morrisons also offer an essentials food pack which can be ordered online if you are isolating and offers all food essentials. They offer a box containing meat items and one for vegans. |
I didn’t see any displays that suggested we were in the middle of a pandemic: no bulk item displays or special displays for items that have noticeably been running out. What I noticed was a lot of end of aisle displays featuring Easter eggs. There was also a ‘seasonal aisle’ featuring even more Easter eggs and other Easter paraphernalia, but it wasn’t clear that this was a seasonal aisle, and was easily missed. I only discovered it when I couldn’t find the Easter Egg hunt box, and was directed to it. My biggest criticism would be the meat section. It’s Easter weekend and it was surprisingly hard to find legs of lamb or other big joints. There certainly weren’t that many. The gondola end nearest to the meat aisle had one or two further legs of lamb but you could have been forgiven for forgeting it was Easter. |
There was a lovely display of flowers and big displays of Easter eggs so relevant to what weekend it is but nothing to do with the challenging time. |
didn’t observe any particular special offers. There were a number of Easter displays (eggs, hot cross buns etc) but nothing particularly helpful during this time. The displays that were there were bright and eye catching, although I did notice two end of aisles which were completely bare |
| Availability and replenishment (up to 5) | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Feedback | Cleaning aisle and tinned food aisle bare, staff were restocking some shelves and at an appropriate distance |
The store was generally well stocked with essentials such as toilet roll, bread, fruit, vegetables and meat. The sugar was well shopped and had a big spillage; this was still not tended to when I went back to the area 45 minutes later. In terms of empty shelves, the pasta was pretty empty plus tinned tomatoes were scarce. Soap was virtually empty as well. There was hardly any eggs left either. Staff were generally good regarding social distancing however it got a little hairy in the freezer area; there seemed to be quite a lot of staff restocking the freezers and the large trolleys were obstructing the aisle at one point. Staff were busy in most aisles restocking where they could. |
There were LOTS of staff stocking up. That was my main impression. None of the sections were messy. A few areas of the store were short of stock, including home baking and canned/ambient in particular, but in general availability across the store was good, with fresh produce, dairy, bakery, and frozen sections in particular strong |
The store was well stocked apart from eggs, rice and hand soap. Lots of staff restocking the shelves whilst paying attention to shoppers. I asked one assistant to pass cheese and she replied “don’t worry I’ll move along so you can come and select what you want” . |
There didn’t seem to be much missing at all! The pasta section was a little sparse, as were the cleaning products, but there was still a decent choice. Bread and toilet rolls all seemed fully stocked. There didn’t seem to be a lot of staff replenishing shelves, but to be fair they didn’t seem to need it! The staff that were on the shopfloor were keeping a respectable distance from customers. |
| Obstructions (up to 3) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Spillages (up to 2) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Condition of the store in terms of cleanliness (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Feedback | It was clean but quite a small store. | There was a sugar spillage which wasn’t tended to during the time I was in the store; I purposefully went back to check if it had been cleared. There was instruction by restocking trolleys in a few areas; I suppose it was amplified due to the social distancing measures as there were other customers too so everyone was trying their best to keep out of everyone’s way. The store standards were good otherwise; the store was clean and tidy plus the fruit and veg sections were abundantly stocked and well tended to. |
It’s quite an old store and looks quite tatty from the outside, but inside it was clean and, thanks to the limit on store customers, seemed quite spacious |
I didn’t see any members of staff completing an online shop with a trolley but this was one of the smaller Tesco stores. | Unfortunately a lot of items didn’t display prices on the shelves, and simply had a “temporarily out of stock” sticker over them (even when the product was in stock). Given the current climate, it is hardly a priority for staff to attend to this obviously, but it did make it difficult for me to be able to check I was charged correctly at the checkout! |
| Store layout (10) | 4 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| Did the store layout seem logical and intuitive? (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Was it easy to navigate the store while also feeling safe? (up to 6) | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Were there any click & collect services available at the store and were they operating effectively? (up to 2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shop Floor Service (20) | 14 | 18 | 19 | 17 | 19 |
| Product location (up to 5) | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Staff politness/responsiveness (up to 5) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Feedback | Staff were all polite and helpful | All staff members I had dealings with were helpful and mostly took me to the product. Graeme in the fruit and veg section directed me to the papaya. A lovely cheerful female staff member helped me find lentils. One staff member pointed to where the mushrooms were but they were actually in close vicinity. |
All the staff I encountered were incredibly helpful. If they didn’t know where an item was they asked colleagues. And when I asked where to find products I was either taken to location, or advised of the aisle correctly. |
spoke to two members of staff. Martin when I couldn’t find the pork chops. He said that they were at the top of the aisle I was on and that I had walked past them. He asked if I could please go back round the other aisle to the top as the store is one way at the present time. They were where he said. I spoke to Tina when looking for dried mixed fruit. She apologised and said they hadn’t had any for a while as everyone was baking due to lockdown. |
I had interaction with a couple of staff members. The first I had to ask when they were getting greaseproof paper replenished. The young girl (no name badge visible) politely said she wasn’t sure and did I want her to go and ask a Senior (I told her not to bother as she was busy). The girl who served me on the checkout (again, didn’t get her name) was polite and made conversation about how busy the store had been and how it often gets busier around lunchtime. She was very friendly. Randomly, as I was putting away my shopping list ready to start loading my goods onto the conveyor belt, an older member of staff explained to me how I needed to put the items onto the belt and the cashier would move the conveyor along as I went. She was very kind but it was a bit bizarre as I didn’t really need to be instructed on how to use a checkout! |
| Was it easy to find a member of staff (up to 3) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Were staff easy to identify through their uniform or name badges (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Staff presentation (up to 5) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Feedback | I did not see any staff wearing masks |
Each member of staff I saw when queuing and walking round the store was careful to remain a safe distance away. Only saw two wearing gloves and one with a face mask (security) |
I would say only approximately half of the staff members had a clear name badge on. Nobody (bar cashier) seemed to be wearing gloves and certainly no staff members were wearing face masks! All staff looked well presented in full uniform. |
||
| Tills and checkouts (20) | 16 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 17 |
| How well managed were the queues leading up to the till-operated checkouts in terms of maintaining order and social distancing? (up to 2) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| How well managed were the queues leading up to the self-service checkouts in terms of maintaining order and social distancing? (Please observe after you’ve completed your shop, and include observations around attentiveness to customers requiring help due to flashing lights/unattended items in bagging area) (up to 2) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| How long did it take to queue (prior to scanning) (up to 4) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Please rate checkout staff on their customer service and safety (up to 7) | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Time for G33 items to be scanned (including payment) (up to 3) | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Was the till receipt free of mistakes? (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Feedback - please provide any further details/feedback on the tills and checkout: | Quick and efficient | All main checkouts has protective screens in place to protect staff members. The self checkouts closed a few of their tills to maintain social distancing between customers. There were staff employed solely to ensure people were queuing in the right places. I queued in the clothing section behind the staff member so completely back from the till. I was the only person in the queue but the customer ahead of me had a very large shop. I’d say the staff members were attentive and it was well managed. There were staff available to help customers on the self checkouts. The lights were constantly flashing when customers required help and the staff members were quick to assist. |
The lady at the checkout could not have been nicer. We had a good chat about availability, the fact that customers were shopping responsibly, and that some staff were self-isolating. She also shared that the only thing she was spending money on was food and drink. |
When I was coming to the end of the last aisle a customer care lady was guiding people to which till was free. The tills were open every other so that social distancing was applied. My till lady was very friendly and asked if I had bags and that she would begin packing for me so that I could unload everything at the very far end of the till. |
There was no queue at all at the checkout - I just strolled right up and was served immediately. Unfortunately I was charged twice for the sausages. |
| Availability score (20) | 15 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 17 |
| Of the 33 items on your shopping list how many were: | |||||
| Available | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 31 |
| Out of stock (-2 per item) | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Not stocked (-1 per item) | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Availability % | 96.7 | 100.0 | 90.0 | 81.8 | 96.9 |
| Please note down the items on your shopping list that were out of stock (please highlight the products that have managed to get a satisfactory substitutions) | lysol spray | Large bag of rocket and purple sprouting broccoli which I replaced with mixed rocket, spinach salad; and tenderstem broccoli; peking duck ready meal (Gressingham duck breasts) |
Own label onions 750g only had 1kg Own label blueberries 250g only had 500g - sign there but empty space. Own label dried mixed fruit Carex handwash moisture plus - only had antibac one Aunt Bessie Yorkshire puddings - no frozen yorkshires at all. Cadbury Diarymilk caramel chocolate 120g - only had multipack bars and cheap larger bars. |
Greaseproof/baking paper | |
| Please note down the items on your shopping list that were not stocked (please highlight the products that have managed to get a satisfactory substitutions) | watercress, alcohol free prosecco, pineapple | I managed to get substitutions for all 5 items which were not stocked at this particular store. Yeo Valley Greek Yoghurt - I managed to get this yoghurt but in a smaller size to what the 950ml had originally wanted. Propercorn Sweet and Salty sharing bag - I purchased a sharing bag. Claudi and Fin ice lollies - I bought Morrisons own label rocket lollies instead. Childs Farm conditioner 250ml - they did not stock any conditioner from this brand however I managed to buy Childs Farm 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner 250ml. Happy Eggs Medium x 12 - they did not stock this brand however I managed to get Morrisons own label 12 eggs. |
Large tortilla (no suitable replacement), Apothic Inferno wine (Priorat wine); slicing tomatoes (large vine tomatoes) | Pink Stuff cleaning spray | |
| Please give any other details or info about your shopping trip, good or bad | Staff were helpful and lovely, small shop, next to an iceland, small car park, store wasnt overly busy and que wasnt bad to enter. Could have had spray or wipes for trolleys and hand sanitiser. Very small easter section all reduced, the arrows on the floor were trying to encourage a one way flow of customers but didnt really work, only one till was open with staff working all the rest were self check out. Staff were helpful and apart from cleaning supplies and tinned section, store was well stocked. |
Top credit to the person who complied the playlist - it was very appropriate to the times - tunes like Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive” and “Bare Necessities” were played and this made me chuckle a few times whilst walking around store. Note there was a fire alarm (!) at around 12.05pm which unfortunately extended my visit time a little because all staff and customers had to abandon their trolleys and exit the store despite the fire alarm stopping. Head counts were done for the staff then we could return to store. This was the only time I was worried about social distancing as there was nobody to really manage customers outside and when people were due to return back to store, everyone was eager to get back in so people were rushing and not really caring about social distancing which was a little alarming. A staff member confided that the fire alarm had already gone off earlier so this was the second time they had had to get everyone outside. Luckily the weather was nice else this would have been a nightmare. |
The store itself isn’t the loveliest, but the staff were all wonderful: friendly, helpful and managing shoppers extremely well | The queue system was well thought out. The staff were all friendly and smiling even though you know they have been being moaned at. The shop was well stocked even though I couldn’t get all of the things I required. The queue for checkouts was well thought, guides for queuing but I went straight to a till - guided by a staff member. It was actually a really nice shop for a Saturday morning. Easy to park and where they are limiting people in the store you could move freely. |
Waitrose was a calm and almost pleasurable experience in these difficult times. The staff seemed reassuring and everybody seemed to be following a strict protocol. |
| TOTAL SCORE (100) | 66 | 77 | 83 | 75 | 81 |
The Grocer 33 was conducted in association with Edge by Ascential. Trusted by major FMCG manufacturers and retailers, Edge by Ascential (formerly Brand View) is the UK’s largest provider of real-time price and promotion tracking and analysis. Learn more and sign up for a 14-day free evaluation at www.ascentialedge.com
Tel: 0844 357 9970 Email: info@ascentialedge.com
No comments yet