The top supermarkets stand out from the crowd on things like customer service, store appearance and value for money.
One of the biggest expenditures most households face each month is the grocery shop.
After all, there’s no way to avoid the need for food!
But which are our favourite supermarkets to head to? And which trail behind the competition?
A new study from consumer champions Which? offers a useful insight.
Our favourite in-store supermarkets
Shoppers were asked to score supermarkets based on their in-store experiences, across a range of criteria.
These included issues like store appearance, the product range and ‒ for some, most crucially ‒ value for money.
Perhaps a little surprisingly, it was upmarket Marks & Spencer (M&S) which came top, with an overall score of 76%.
This may be unexpected given the cost pressures that so many of us are facing on food, after the last few years of rampant food price inflation, and it’s true that M&S scored just two out of five on value for money.
However, this was more than countered by its performance in other categories ‒ it scored full marks for the likes of overall customer service, staff helpfulness, store appearance and quality of own-label and fresh products. M&S also finished in first place last year.
One shopper said they never feel let down by M&S, though acknowledged the store “can be a bit pricey”.
The pressure of being able to afford the supermarket shopping has clearly helped the appeal of Aldi, which again took second place too.
A survey respondent suggested they would not be able to afford a big weekly shop without Aldi being an option, adding they “couldn’t do without Aldi”.
It scored 73% overall, with four stars for value for money, and three stars for the likes of overall customer service and quality of products. It didn’t do so well on areas like product availability and the range of products.
Rounding out the top three was Waitrose, with an overall score of 72%. Like M&S it scored poorly on value for money but won praise for staff availability and helpfulness as well as the appearance of stores.
At the other end of the scale, Asda and Morrisons came joint bottom on 64%. Both scored two out of five on value for money, while Asda also performed poorly on stock availability and product quality.
Inconsistency is clearly a big issue here. One shopper said they can rarely get everything they need with Asda, while Morrisons was described as “hit and miss”.
Our favourite online supermarkets
Of course, an awful lot of us don’t handle our supermarket shopping in person.
Instead, we make use of deliveries or click and collect services. What’s more, these sorts of services have grown in use over the last few years off the back of the pandemic as a potentially safer way to handle grocery shopping.
Which? also polled shoppers on their experiences here, with Iceland coming out on top for a second straight year.
Iceland scored a whopping 80%, notching up four-star scores in a host of categories including value for money, communication around the delivery, stock availability and overall customer service.
Try your first Iceland shop now (affiliate link)
Second place was tied between Tesco and Waitrose, both of which managed 78% overall.
Value for money was the main differential, with both only scoring three stars, though it’s notable that Waitrose managed full marks for the quality of its products.
Interestingly Aldi came bottom in this one, quite the contrast from its in-store performance.
It scored just 57% in total, with scores of two out of five across the board, not too far ahead of Amazon Fresh on 66%, where again most categories managed just two stars.
The role of loyalty pricing
The last few years have been particularly tough when it comes to grocery shopping. While food price inflation is thankfully no longer pushing 20%, as it had been, it remains around 7%.
That means the cost of our food is continuing to rise at a rate many will find painful.
This has prompted some changes in the way that we shop, with Aldi and Lidl seeing big gains from their larger rivals.
However, there has been something of a turnaround since the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons started introducing lower prices on certain items for members of their loyalty schemes.
With budgets continuing to feel the strain, any supermarket that wants to win our custom will need to focus just as much on value for money as any other element of their offering.
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