Waitrose has come top this week thanks to excellent shopfloor service and an overall smooth shopping experience.
Staff at its Altrincham, Cheshire branch were “friendly and helpful” and maintained social distancing during our mystery shopper’s Saturday afternoon visit. The partner who served them at the checkout particularly shone, as they greeted the shopper with eye contact, adjusted their scanning speed to allow time to pack and thanked them for their custom.
Availability was 97% with only the own-label raisin, almond and honey granola out of stock, which was substituted with its banana, papaya and honey clusters granola. Lipton ice tea in peach flavour (500ml), meanwhile, was not stocked.
The chilled and produce sections were well presented with very few gaps, but the frozen department had some empty shelves due to a couple of broken freezers.
As for coronavirus preventative measures, the branch had reminder notices to socially distance, a one-way system, and till operators wearing gloves.
Morrisons in West Kirby was runner-up this week, also excelling in standards and service.
Our shopper found the till operator was “friendly and made small talk”. The store’s coronavirus measures were generally good, with clear en-try and exit signage and an employee ensuring customer numbers were manageable, alongside antibacterial spray for trolleys and hand sanitiser for shoppers. It was let down by staff and fellow customers failing to maintain social distancing, however, and employees not wearing masks or gloves.
The branch’s availability levels were fairly strong, with just own-label sundried tomatoes out of stock, and three items not stocked that were substituted.
Our mystery shopper also had to move empty boxes out the way to pick up a couple of products.
Sainsbury’s in Bourne, Lincolnshire impressed thanks to a positive experience at the checkout. Queues leading up to the tills were also well-managed.
The store did struggle with availability: the three out-of-stock lines were loose carrots, swapped for a bag of carrots, raspberries which were substituted for blueberries, and six white muffins switched for Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference cheese muffins. There were also four not-stocked items.
Safety measures were lacklustre too, with social distancing well-maintained by staff with customers but not with one another.
Aldi in Meanwood, Leeds struggled due to its atmosphere being “chaotic” and “a little stressful” during our shopper’s visit. She found the shop messy, with litter particularly present around the trolleys, freezers and the entrance.
Aldi’s score was bumped up thanks to employees’ efficiency, helpfulness and friendliness, nabbing full marks for staff politeness.
Tesco in Buckingham scored well for its car park, clear signage and plentiful trolleys, but lost marks for low availability.
Service was also not up to scratch, owing to there being no staff member managing checkouts, making it feel “like old times” pre-coronavirus. However the till operator was friendly and offered to pack for our shopper.
Asda in Washington, Sunderland was described as “messy, grubby and dirty” and lacked appropriate coronavirus procedures, making our shopper feel “fearful and uncomfortable”.
This week’s results:
| WEEK 10: Saturday 15/08/2020 (1.00pm-4.00pm) | WINNER | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asda | Morrisons | Sainsbury’s | Tesco | Waitrose | Aldi | |
| Location | Washington | West Kirby | Bourne | Buckingham | Altrincham | Leeds |
| Date | 25/07/2020 | 25/07/2020 | 25/07/2020 | 25/07/2020 | 25/07/2020 | 25/07/2020 |
| Time slot | 1-4pm | 1-4pm | 1-4pm | 1-4pm | 1-4pm | 1-4pm |
| Shop starts | 02:45pm | 01:05pm | 01:12pm | 01:55pm | 01:00pm | 2:45pm |
| Visit Duration | 00:55 | 00:55 | 00:40 | 01:15 | 00:55 | 01:06 |
| Shop Duration | 00:57 | 00:50 | 00:32 | 01:05 | 00:48 | 00:56 |
| Car Park (10) | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Signposting (up to 1) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Queueing time to park (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Trolleys (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Queueing time from parking the car to enter the store (up to 3) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Feedback (up to 2) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| There was no monitoring in the car park, no traffic control, no one way system or distancing stickers from the park to the store (3-400mtrs of pathway from the nearest parking spaces to the store entrance). There was no queue but neither was there anyone controlling the number of customers in store at any one time. There was a cleaning station and a small notice about wearing masks, but nobody was checking that customers complied; when asked I was told they did not and would not challenge customers. | barriers were in places, was clear exit and entry. An assistant was letting people in to ensure numbers of shoppers. There was hand sanitizer and spray for trolleys. | Staff managing store entry and barriers to create one way system for entry and exit and clear markings on the floor where to stand if there was a queue. | Car park was zoned with good signage to locate car. 1/4 of car park was cordoned off for repair. Area for bicycle parking. Click and collect drive through located in car park. Charging points for electric cars. Store clearly signed entrance and exit - no social distancing markers outside of the store and no staff managing the entrance to the store | The car park was generally clean and tidy. There were no queues upon entering or leaving and it was easy to locate a space. There were some notices regarding social distancing present, however, there were no staff managing customers around the entrance of the store. | This store is located on a high street in a lovely little area called Chapel Allerton. The road is busy so you generally have to wait for traffic lights to turn to red before you can turn into the store. Upon entry there was the odd space available; the car park was fairly busy. The only wait I had was another car reserving out and taking their time; because it was quite busy it looked fairly tight. After they had exited the area I found a space pretty quickly. There were plenty of trolleys available at the right hand side of the store. There was so much litter on the floor; some around the trolleys. There were plenty of trolleys however and they were stacked neatly. You have to pay £1 refundable deposit for the trolleys. There were no staff members on the door however the store had a clearly marked one way system that had a green light above indicating that it was safe to enter the store - if it was a red light you had to “wait patiently”. There were also signs advising that a face mask must be worn. I deducted one point due to the litter that was around the trolley area. | |
| Store standards (20) | 7 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 11 |
| First impression (up to 5) | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Feedback | The outside area of the store was grubby and dirty, far more than I’ve seen it before. There was a one way system for entry and exit, with a cleaning station, but this was confined to a small table around which a number of customers were crowded. There were no members of staff in this area. Unlike other stores there were no announcements about social distancing, hand cleansing and courtesy to other shoppers. There were no distancing markers in any of the aisles as I began my shop. | N/A | General calm and neat impression on entering the store. Initially clothes and homeware sections and deals well stocked and in good order | Sanitiser - signed and directly in front of you when entering the store. Floor markings to identify 2m distance. Clear signage about wearing a mask and if you have not got or forgotten your mask a request to speak to a staff member. Central display in entrance with special offer products - beer / coke / sweets | The store seemed fairly calm and ordered. However, staff seemed more occupied with merchandising stock and serving customers, rather than maintaining a sense of order. I didn’t notice any announcements with regard to social distancing. | The store was fairly busy; it was a little bit chaotic if anything with trolleys and it did look quite littered. There was stray bits of litter around the hand sanitising area as well as around the grocery area and also when upon exiting the store as well. Staff members were busy helping to restock areas but the space felt a little cluttered and restocking trolleys and other customers with their own trolleys all competed for space. Announcements made in the store were generally regarding tills opening and closing. |
| Displays (up to 3) | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Availability and replenishment (up to 5) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Feedback | There were many gaps on the shelves, in particular the cold meats, which had a whole shelf filled with one product as well as lots of empty spaces. All sections had sparse areas and there were not many staff on the shop floor with restocking trolleys, in fact the only ones I saw were in the sweets and snacks area. Additionally as I entered the store there were 2 rows of freezers completely empty; though there may have been a reason for that it does not give a very good first impression. | Generally well stocked but two products i had to reach back to get or move an empty box out of the way to get to products behind. | Vegetable and bakery shelves particularly had some stock gaps. Replenishment was happening safely and the aisles were wide enough for replenishment to obstruct the movement of shoppers. The deli, fish and meat counters were closed and empty with signage indicating this was due to lack of staff. | Fruit and veg and bakery aisles were sparsely stocked with empty spaces. When approached about missing items staff did go out the back to look for them - but didnt bring out more than the item requested - it would have made sense to fill the empty space. Staff were few on the shop floor so had to search for assistance. | The chilled and produce sections were well presented and well stocked with very few gaps. However, the frozen section had numerous gaps due to the fact that one or two freezers had broken down in the recent hot weather. Also, the flower section at the front of store was looking rather sad and empty. | There were lots of relevant and enticing offers all around store. There were big beer and cider promotions dotted around as well as lots of savings on the non-food section. The store did look quite messy oh the whole. Promotions were well shopped and there were a lot of odd empty boxes strewn around the store. The wine was so well shopped that if you were not tall you would be jumping to try reach them from the back of the shelves. Part of a freezer was empty but it had loads of food remnants in; it looked extremely messy. Boxes were stacked high but disjointed at the ends of aisles and empty boxes were just left there. I would have probably marked less due to the messiness but I did see staff members making attempts to replenish the shelves. |
| Obstructions (up to 3) | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Spillages (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Condition of the store in terms of cleanliness (up to 2) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Feedback | While the store was clean and in good decorative order in all areas, there was quite a lot of floor litter in some areas (empty boxes, mostly) and on the shelves ; also I don’t think there had been any tidying of the shelves recently | Floors cleaned nicely | N/A | Nearly every aisle has a trolley full of empty boxes or stacked trays in it - cant understand why they weren’t moved out the back - made the store look messy. There was a drawing / colouring competition at the front of the store for children -great idea but not sure if appropriate given the covid situation paper and pens on the table which could be handled by anyone. 2m marking on shop floor but aisles no directional signs for each aisle so traffic going 2 ways | The store was generally clean, tidy and well maintained. However, there were a few items of litter in the fruit and veg section. | As aforementioned the store definitely would benefited from the shelves being tidied. There were a few unmanned trolleys which customers had to dodge. It felt a little stressful at times if a customer was trying to come past the other way and there was a restocking trolley stuck in the middle. |
| Store layout (10) | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 4 |
| Did the store layout seem logical and intuitive? (up to 2) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Was it easy to navigate the store while also feeling safe? (up to 6) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Did the store offered any Click & Collect services? (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Shop Floor Service (20) | 12 | 12 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 18 |
| Product location (up to 5) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Staff politness/responsiveness (up to 5) | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Feedback | Some staff were helpful and knew their stock, advising which aisle to check, which items their particular store did not carry, where an Asda that might carry items was, while others did not. All were polite but none offered to check out the back . | I asked about tin of jack fruit, he went to look in another aisle said it wasn’t there or in aisle he was so he wasn’t sure, half way through he stopped to speak to another member of staff about uniform, which was a bit rude, but then asked her if she knew were product was. With sundried tomatoes they didnt offere to check out back just said not in stock. | N/A | Hard to initially locate staff member but helpful when approached | The staff were well presented and were reasonably friendly and helpful when I made my enquiries. When I asked a male staff member with short brown hair whether there were any more Waitrose free range medium eggs available, he asked me to wait a moment while he helpfully brought some from the warehouse for me. When I asked a lady with grey hair whether there was any Waitrose raisin, almond & honey granola available, she replied “no”, adding that if it wasn’t on the shelf, then it wasn’t available. When I asked a male staff member with brown hair whether there was any Waitrose frozen peas or broccoli available, he handed me some from his restocking trolley explaining that they weren’t in the freezer as it had broken down. However, I felt he could have smiled whilst serving me. Finally, when I asked a male staff member with brown hair and a beard whether the store stocked Liptons ice tea in 500ml size, he checked on the shelf before replying “no, just the big bottles”. | The staff were all very lovely, friendly and helpful - top marks. I didn’t catch the staff member’s name but he was male with short black cropped hair, brown eyes and tattoos on his arms - he was really helpful in the fruit and vegetable area which he was restocking. He took the time to chat about the produce and gave me some advice. Nathan the store manager also assisted me on finding some tinned goods and took me to where they were; plus he advised on bottled water availability because this was out of stock. A female staff member with glasses and brown hair who was restocking the bread area was also very helpful and directed me to the exact location on the shelf when I was struggling to find the bread I wanted. |
| Was it easy to find a member of staff (up to 3) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Were staff easy to identify through their uniform or name badges (up to 2) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Staff presentation (up to 5) | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Feedback | I did not see any floor staff wearing gloves and the majority did not wear masks, nor did they socially distance from customers or each other. The worst incident was by the self service tills where 4 members of staff were chatting together in close proximity to each other with no protective measures at all. The staff on tills were however protected by screens and ‘my’ lady also wore mask and gloves | Social distance wasn’t really maintained by staff or shoppers. | Social distance maintained with customers but not with eachother. All wore masks or visors but not all wore gloves | 0 | Staff maintained a reasonable distance whilst assisting me with my enquiries. | Staff were all respectful of the social distancing. |
| Tills and checkouts (20) | 12 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 18 |
| 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 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 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) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| How long did it take to queue (prior to scanning) (up to 4) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Please rate checkout staff on their customer service and safety (up to 7) | 5 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| Time for G33 items to be scanned (including payment) (up to 3) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Was the till receipt free of mistakes? (up to 2) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Feedback - please provide any further details/feedback on the tills and checkout: | As there were no queues it is difficult to comment on how they would be managed, but there were on distancing markers to help customers whilst queueing and judging by the lack of monitoring throughout the rest of the store I’m not confident any effort would be made in this area either. The only markers I saw were weirdly parallel to the row of tills not along the aisles leading up to them - I could not see any purpose to them at all | Didnt ask me if i had rewards card or if i wanted bags, but was friendly and made small talk. | Cashiers were noticeably not wearing masks but there was a screen in front of them. | No staff member present to manage the checkouts it was like old times chose a till and queue. Our flashing light was attended very quickly to replace an item. Yvonne on checkout was fantastic really friendly - offered to pack - offered to put meat and frozen items into additional clear bags - top was loose on the orange squash - got it replaced immediately. I need to use the loo after i had paid and she offered to store my shopping next to her till and watch it for me. Should be recognised for her thoughtfulness and helpfulness | The till service was friendly, helpful and efficient. The cashier greeted me with eye contact and began scanning my items. I also noticed that she considerately adjusted her scanning speed to allow me enough time to pack. I was then asked whether I had a Waitrose card before being asked for payment. Finally, I was thanked for my custom with a smile, handed my receipt and wished a pleasant afternoon. | There were only two main checkouts open and when I got nearer one was actually closing but luckily the other one didn’t have a big queue and it was my turn in less than five minutes. A female staff member called Misha served me; she was friendly and efficient and whizzed through the transaction; greeting me at the start and thanking me at the end. The only thing which was a little stressful was that another colleague came by and opened the till part whilst I was at the end packing my shopping as the end sort of came away |
| Availability score (20) | 15 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 11 |
| Of the 33 items on your shopping list how many were: | ||||||
| Available (up to 20) | 30 | 29 | 26 | 27 | 31 | 26 |
| Out of stock (-2 per item) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Not stocked (-1 per item) | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Availability % | 93.8 | 96.7 | 89.7 | 96.4 | 96.9 | 92.9 |
| 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) | There was no stem ginger, (OOS) nor could I substitute candied ginger (DNS) There was no toffee crisp pack x7 nor could I substitute with a pack of the larger bars as both were out of stock. | Sundried tomatoes. | Loose carrots out of stock - substitute with bag of carrots Raspberries out of stock - substitute with blueberries 6 white muffins out of stock - substitue with 4x taste the difference cheese muffins |
2 pint semi skimmed milk - substituted with 4 pints semi skimmed milk | Waitrose raisin, almond and honey granola (substituted with Waitrose banana, papaya and honey clusters granola). | The still bottled water Was out of stock; the store manager advised they only had fizzy available which I don’t like so I didn’t substitute. The milk was out of stock for 6 pints but I managed to get 4 pints so was perfectly happy with this. |
| 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) | There was no peppered salt beef slices, but roast topside slices were an acceptable substitute | Jackfruit in a tin. Elvive purple shampoo watercress - i got watercrees. Spinach and rocket salad |
4 x Cushelle toilet roll not stocked - subs with Andrex 4 x toilet rolls Fairtrade cotton pads not stocked - susb. with double layer cotton pads 1kg Ice not stocked. 200ml Coconut milk pouch not stocked - subs. with Amoy 400ml coconut milk |
Own label parma ham substituted with serano ham Twinnings assam t bags sub with Tesco assam tt bags Loose braeburn apples sub with pack of 6 Kingfisher lager sub with Cobra lager Purple sprouting broccoli |
Liptons ice tea peach 500ml | The Isengard Skyr yoghurt was not stocked at this store however I got a very similar Icelandic style strawberry yoghurt so a great substitution. I had originally wanted nappies in a larger size but managed to get them in a smaller size - they were still the new premium variant I had wanted to try. The store does not currently stock satsumas but I did get some easy peelers instead. The only products which didn’t have a similar substitute were the frozen pizza dough and the frozen butternut squash - I was unable to find anything similar of these items. |
| Please give any other details or info about your shopping trip, good or bad | Considering we are still in the midst of a pandemic, I was not at all impressed with the efforts of this retailer to control customers for their own safety, and I felt very uncomfortable and somewhat fearful all the time I was in there; I will not be venturing back unless there is a marked increase in safety measures and the policing of customer behavior. The impression I got was that Asda was more concerned with not wishing to offend non-complyers, and risk them taking their custom elsewhere. Also the fact that staff did not comply with safety measures themselves did not encourage better behavior from customers and put staff in a position where they could hardly remonstrate if they had wanted to. Overall, the store was basically very clean and the fabric is well amintained, but it was untidy, poorly stocked in many areas and I didn’t see much by way of replenishing the shelves | Lots of good deals on buy two for £3. They had a good dine in offer, and are participating in the governments eat out to help out scheme. generally well stocked and clean. It is a small store right next to the beach so you get a lot of customers just popping in for one or two things rather than a weekly shop, making it quite busy. | Argos concession available within the store. | Click and collect drive through in car park. This is a medium / small sized store and to be honest the food aisles seemed to disappear between stationary / school uniform / household goods aisles which were all interspersed between the food aisles which did make it harder to find items as the food aisles didnt flow. Again empty stock trolleys in all the aisles filled with cardboard etc Toilets clean and sinks socially distanced 3 middle one blocked off. Help yourself salad bar, bureau de change and deli not in use. Fish and meat counter both operational. There was a coffee bar , pharmacy, photo booth and Tesco mobile store inside the store and a Timpsons outside. Given the store size i think there should have been more focus on the groceries and less on other services. |
The store was well laid-out and it was easy to find most of what I was looking for, particularly in the fruit and veg section where each bay had its own header. I noticed that the in-store cafe had been temporarily closed and some of its space was now being used for queueing. | I bought the sweet potatoes because they were on the shopping list however all the bags I checked were pretty bad quality potatoes - all the skin had peeled off in various parts of the potato and it just didn’t look very well presented. I had to rummage through bags to choose the best of a bad bunch. |
| TOTAL SCORE (100) | 61 | 80 | 73 | 68 | 86 | 71 |
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