It was a tight battle between high-scoring Tesco and Waitrose for the top spot this week.
Tesco narrowly won with a score of 82, while Waitrose racked up 80 points.
Tesco’s Lurgan store had the edge on availability, with “a good amount of stock” and just one item not stocked. The fruit & vegetable section was excellent, despite recent shortages.
Meanwhile, Waitrose Westfield trailed on this front. Although the fruit & veg section was well stocked, the Bachelors Super Noodles and the liquorice allsorts were out of stock.
Tesco also offered the best store standards this week: it was attractive, orderly and well managed. There were enticing offers and the aisles were notably free of obstructions.
Waitrose was again close behind. Our shopper noted inviting seasonal displays of spring flowers for Mother’s Day, alongside “relevant and good-value promotions”.
Waitrose took the lead on store layout and services, on which it scored full marks. Our shopper noted “brilliant” services, including a sushi stand, click & collect, and a bakery.
Tesco’s services did not stand out as strongly: click & collect was hard to find and the bakery area was good but small.
Coming behind these two stores was Sainsbury’s Rugby with 70 points. Our shopper enjoyed the shop, which was “quiet and pretty well stocked”.
Store standards and service were fairly strong. Staff were helpful when asked about the location of a product, though several were not wearing name badges. Service was also good on the till, and our shopper highlighted a “friendly and polite” checkout assistant.
While there were some gaps on shelves, staff were restocking – and trolleys were carefully placed. The online picking trolleys were not so well placed, however, causing obstructions.
Our shopper noted a good selection of counters but “nothing amazing”.
Asda and Morrisons lagged behind the pack. Asda Bodmin scored 53, while Morrisons Camberwell mustered just 47.
Asda had very poor store standards. Some displays were “very untidy with empty boxes”. Boxes waiting to be unpacked were placed on top of vegetables in the organic section.
Discarded packaging was seen on the shelves and floor, and there was a sugar spillage.
There were notable gaps in fruit & veg, and throughout the store – leading to a score of just two on availability.
Asda offered the best checkout experience this week, however. A staff member was seen effectively managing the queues and directing customers to the self-checkouts.
The “friendly and engaging staff member” chatted to our shopper while scanning, asked if he needed bags and explained how the loyalty card worked.
Last-placed Morrisons had lots of attractive offers, mostly seasonal. The store was also easy to navigate – our shopper said it was one of the best layouts she had seen.
However, this is where the positive feedback ended. Restocking was taking place throughout the store, and some trolleys were unattended and causing obstruction.
In one area of the store, access was impossible due to a yellow hazard sign stating there was a spillage. There were a few staff in the store, but they were not particularly engaged.
Its availability score was again poor, despite the fruit & veg section being “quite well stocked”. However, this was mainly due to not-stocked lines, of which there were seven.
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