Waitrose has followed up its Grocer Gold Award for service with a second consecutive weekly win in our mystery shop competition.
Its store in Portswood, Southampton scored an impressive 85 points thanks to its stellar staff, who offered service with a smile despite the busy Friday evening.
On entering the store, our shopper’s eye was drawn by the attractive displays of seasonal goods. That positive impression was maintained by the store’s meat and fish deli counters, plus its “excellent” range of plants and flowers.
But the store’s many assistants left the biggest impression on our shopper, who “appreciated” the way they proactively acknowledged every customer they saw. That created a “window of opportunity” to ask questions, without shoppers feeling they might be “bothering” them.
One worker took the time to find a missing item elsewhere in the store, before seeking out our shopper to hand it to them.
Some way behind in second place was Morrisons’ Killingworth store outside Newcastle upon Tyne. It mustered 72 points – a score that was largely dragged down by availability, with four items out of stock.
Our shopper was “keen to explore” the store after being welcomed by displays promoting BBQ and Euro 2024 lines.
They were equally impressed by the “appetising” array of choice at the hot food and salad bar counters. However, there were a few gaps on shelves, particularly on fresh items.
But any disappointment was lessened by the “stress-free” checkout experience, and affable staff, plenty of whom were available.
One standout assistant was Janice, who made “a real difference” to the visit by waiting for our shopper to unload her groceries before starting to scan.
Further north, and in third place, was Sainsbury’s in Hamilton with 61 points. Our shopper enjoyed the “wide aisles” and cleanliness of the store, even if they felt the click & collect point could have been better signposted.
While staff mostly took care to ensure restocking didn’t inhibit the shopping experience, a pile of empty boxes was left in the fruit & veg aisle for the duration of our shopper’s visit.
And when in need of help, our shopper found it hard to find members of staff. However, the staff they did encounter were helpful and polite.
Tesco’s Coleraine store came fourth with 59. Our shopper was uninspired by the “small” shop and limited availability.
Once again, “helpful and friendly” staff were the highlight of the visit, with one shopworker seeking out an alternative product when one line wasn’t stocked.
Languishing some way behind in fifth place was Asda’s Hounslow branch, with 45 points. Our shopper struggled to find the store entrance due to a lack of signage in a large multi-storey car park that was shared with other retailers.
They were also disappointed by a lack of visible displays, despite the large size of the store. The “awful layout” wasn’t helped by large gaps on shelves, which gave the impression the 40,200 sq ft store was “too big for its ranges”.
The experience was redeemed somewhat by the store’s “pleasant” and “knowledgeable” staff, who helped our shopper locate some missing items. Despite the gaps in store, our shopper was able to find most of items on our list: there were just two out-of-stocks and one not-stocked line.
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