Sainsbury’s picked up its first win in eight weeks, as its store in the Moor Allerton Centre to the north of Leeds scored a respectable 78 points, despite only managing 12 out of 20 for availability thanks to two out-of-stocks.
It performed well, if not spectacularly, in all other areas, with our shopper pleased to find the aisles “fairly logical”, which meant she could “find most products easily”. She also enjoyed the “decent” Habitat homewares section and noted a “buoyant” £3.75 meal deal available from the hot food section, as well as “a lovely Moët merchandised champagne unit, which had a digital screen to bring the activation to life”.
There were “many” staff members replenishing stock, one of whom helpfully pointed out where the melon was. Our shopper felt store standards were “excellent”, with “well-executed” activations, though this was countered by some notable out-of-stocks.
In second on 69 points came Waitrose in Newport, which also registered two out-of-stocks but provided a “positive and enjoyable shopping experience”, according to our shopper, one she said was no doubt enhanced by “the lovely smell of flowers in the entrance”.
She added that store standards were “excellent”, with wide aisles providing “plenty of room for everyone”. An empty cheese box sniffed out by our shopper was swiftly removed by staff, who were “all really polite” and helpful – especially Mike, Carys and Jake. Meanwhile, restocking “was taking place in an unobtrusive way, and I was even asked if they were in my way – which they weren’t”.
Just two points further back in third came Asda in Manchester, which would have nicked second were it not for two out-of-stocks and two items not being stocked. Our shopper found staff “reasonably helpful with my enquiries” though “they generally did not offer to investigate them any further”.
Similarly, he found service at the checkouts to be “reasonably friendly and efficient” but “not very engaging”. Our shopper had similar sentiments for most aspects of the store, with the shop described as “pleasant enough, without any real high or lowlights”.
Fourth place went to Morrisons in Bromsgrove with 60 points, which had one out-of-stock and two not-stocked items. The store scored well on shop floor service, with our shopper noting staff were pleasant, helpful and “getting on with things”.
She found the layout “odd” and “counterintuitive”, as a number of displays came after the checkouts, meaning “if you wanted to buy something, you’d have to circle back into the supermarket to get to the tills”.
The colleague at the checkouts was “pleasant” but “blindly shoving items down the slope”, which resulted in the bread getting squashed.
Fifteen points further back in last place came Tesco in Glasgow. Things started badly on availability, with one item out of stock and a full 11 not stocked. The store was relatively small for a Tesco at 30,000 sq ft, though two other stores this week were smaller.
Our shopper did point out there were alternative sizes or products for some of those items, though she was still “surprised at just how many I wasn’t able to get”. She said she “wasn’t overly happy with my shop”, partly due to the stocking issue, but there were also lots of empty, unmanned trolleys throughout the store, the aisles felt “cramped” and the layout was confusing with unhelpful signage.
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