Tesco picked up its first win since mid-February at its Tidworth store. With a total of 75 points, the branch impressed our shopper from the get go.
The first thing our shopper noticed were the “beautiful plants” outside the store. They set a “sunny, upbeat tone” that continued throughout her shop – ending with a chat with a staff member on the till whose “manner was great”.
The store also scored well on shop floor service. Our shopper was able to locate staff to ask about each of the five items she couldn’t find. They were all friendly and “stopped what they were doing to help”. One woman was able to give “a quick answer” because she’d already been asked about watermelons that morning.
The store’s relatively small size resulted in a more modest availability score: one item was out of stock and four were not stocked.
Second place this week was a tie between Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, which both scored 71 points.
Morrisons Canterbury would have got the upper hand if it weren’t for a poor showing on availability. The store scored zero due to seven out-of-stocks and two not-stocked items.
However, it scored well in other areas. Our shopper described this as “one of the cleanest stores I have ever visited”, with minimal obstructions thanks to staff “noticeably manning trolleys that were in the aisles”. She also found the signage clear and the store’s layout “hugely logical”.
The branch also picked up a perfect 20 on shop floor service. There were “ample” staff restocking shelves and those our shopper approached were “extremely helpful”. Overall, she found this “a very pleasant shopping experience” despite the low availability.
Sainsbury’s in Leeds posted this week’s best score for availability, but still had two out-of-stocks and one item not stocked. Our shopper was already very familiar with this store, resulting in a “quick” shop, though she did remark staff could have “been more helpful/dynamic”.
She was also “annoyed” to discover the cashier charged twice for the daffodils, which went unnoticed until later.
The biggest gripe, though, was reserved for one of the freezers. It had a broken lid that was “so disgustingly dirty I didn’t want to touch it”.
There was a big drop-off of 20 points to fourth-placed Waitrose in Southampton, which scored just 51. Four out-of-stocks didn’t help, but our shopper found the store “busy and cramped” with a lot of shoppers, staff and restocking trolleys in “most of the aisles”.
She also noticed “quite a lot of empty shelves” and displays that “didn’t look quite as bumper-packed as they usually do in Waitrose stores”. Meanwhile, although staff were clearly “working hard”, they “did not seem approachable”.
Bottom of the pile this week was Asda in Liverpool with just 48 points. Availability was fair – the store had just two out-of-stocks and one not-stocked item – but the damage to its score was done elsewhere.
As soon as our shopper entered, she saw “dirty marks on the floor” and a “messy, haphazard” display of Mother’s Day cards. Unfortunately, “it didn’t get much better a couple of aisles in, with bits of cardboard and litter on the floor”.
Our shopper did reserve some praise, though, for the cashier. Rita was “lovely” and “shared a laugh and a joke with me and another customer”, which “made the queueing seem a bit more bearable”.
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