Tesco Montrose took the top spot with 83 points this week, thanks to its “main asset” of helpful staff.
Staff were excellent across all areas of the store. While restocking and moving trolleys, staff took “obvious care to avoid shoppers”. On the checkouts, the assistant took particular care handling the shopping and matched our shopper’s scanning speed, which was “really appreciated”.
On the shop floor, staff stopped what they were doing and gave our shopper “their full attention with a smile” to help locate products. “I never felt fobbed off,” said our shopper.
The store standards were generally good, and seasonal displays were appealing, though some areas needed tidying.
The layout was intuitive, with click & collect and food to go available in store. Tesco also offered the highest availability this week; no items were out of stock and five were not stocked.
The fresh turkey was one of the items not stocked. Our shopper asked about ordering a turkey to collect later, and a staff member said, “I assume you can use the app” – however, no staff consulted were exactly clear on how collection worked.
Second place went to Sainsbury’s Lisburn with 74 points. The store had an intuitive layout and good first impressions, with a particular mention going to the well presented Christmas display.
The store standards were excellent and the fruit & veg section was well stocked and tidy. The store scored full marks on shop floor service: “I asked an assistant and they got me exactly what I was looking for.”
Our shopper had to queue for two to three minutes at the checkout, but overall the experience was “really good”.
On the availability front, there were two items out of stock and three not stocked.
Next up was Waitrose Swindon with 61 points. The store had good store standards and an “excellent” fruit & veg section. The layout was logical and intuitive, but there were no counters available, as they had closed at 5pm.
Staff were helpful, and the store sampling colleague was very knowledgeable about alcoholic beverages.
Service at the checkout was slow. Our shopper had to wait six to seven minutes to be served, as there was only one manned till open. The checkout assistant was “great”, however, greeting our shopper and handling products carefully.
Two items were out of stock and four were not stocked.
Close behind was Morrisons Harborne, with 60 points. The shop was “bright and warm, and the aisles were wide”.
However, the store was let down by poor staffing levels. There was only one member of staff on the shop floor and only three others spotted in store. Staffing numbers “felt very low for such a large store” but our shopper “could not fault” any member of staff spoken to.
Availability in Morrisons was the poorest this week, with six items out of stock.
Asda Twickenham came last place with 31 points. The store had very poor service and low store standards.
The staff were “not helpful” and kept asking our shopper to ask someone else. Our shopper said helping shoppers “seemed like a burden”.
Our shopper also noted restocking trollies causing obstructions in the aisles.
Till service was very slow. The assistant had to leave self-service to serve our shopper at a manned till, meaning a delay of six to seven minutes.
Two items were out of stock and four were not stocked.
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