How supermarkets are failing blind and visually impaired shoppers

What was the best part of Shakti’s Grocer 33 mystery shop at the Asda in Newton Abbot? “Getting out of the store without losing it,” she recalls – after abandoning her trip to avoid “being totally overwhelmed by anxiety”.

As a visually impaired shopper, Shakti had called the store 24 hours in advance and was told just to show up. But arriving at the store, she immediately noted a “look of panic” when she asked for assistance. She was allocated by the help desk a car park attendant who “attempted to help despite not knowing where things were”. She was clear he was “thrown in at the deep end” by helpdesk staff, whose attitude was “appalling”, added Shakti. After an hour doing his best, “we hadn’t made much progress, and I was really struggling not to lose it”. So Shakti walked out. Not surprisingly, Asda came last in The Grocer’s special ‘visually impaired’ mystery shop, with just 39 points.

In contrast, Tash enjoyed a trouble-free shop at Tesco in Lewisham. A “patient” shop floor assistant “who knew the store” had “really helped me feel empowered and like I wasn’t a burden but a valued customer”.

‘Pot luck’

But it would be wrong to draw too many conclusions. “It’s pot luck [for blind or partially sighted people],” says Alice Bazzard, 38, from Dorset. “You just don’t know what you’re going to get or who you’re going to get. I haven’t found one particular supermarket I can really rely on.”

The supermarkets are trying, of course. Last year, Tesco became the first major European supermarket to partner with Be My Eyes visual assistance tech. Working with the RNIB, Tesco also rolled out the Sunflower Lanyard Scheme across all UK stores, which helps colleagues recognise when a customer may need additional time or assistance. “There’s always more we can do, but we’re continually improving,” says Ellyn Fitzgerald, Tesco’s group head of DE&I.

Tesco is not the only supermarket working with charities. For example, Sainsbury’s has partnered with the Business Disability Forum and Digital Accessibility Centre on its approach. And the supermarkets make a number of promises as to how they can help. But as our Grocer 33 mystery shops illustrate, the experience varies wildly, and there’s often a gulf between what supermarkets say and do.

So what’s going wrong? What does good look like? And what lessons can supermarkets learn?

Despite the best efforts of supermarkets, the picture painted by blind or partially sighted (BPS) shoppers is less rosy. Experiences “vary hugely” within the same supermarket, let alone across a retailer’s whole estate, says Jane Russell, comms manager at Retina UK.

And Russell claims not only has “the core level of assistance not changed dramatically in recent years”, where change has been noticeable it’s sometimes for the worse. “The rise of self-checkouts,” she explains, “has made shopping significantly harder for some. Being pushed towards machines – where locating barcodes or scanner points can be difficult – adds unnecessary frustration. This can make the experience feel less accessible, even when staff are present.”

Most supermarkets say staff will open a manned checkout if required. But Gordon Brown, 43, a BPS shopper from Scotland, says it’s “so much harder to find a member of staff than it used to be – you feel like asking for help is too much”. And when our Asda shopper was helped at the checkout, she wasn’t actually told how much the bill came to.

“I’m avoiding using in-store services because it’s too unreliable, you don’t know what you’re going to get, and you can be left feeling quite vulnerable”

Alice Bazzard

Negotiating the shop floor as a BPS shopper is another potential minefield. Clutter, random trolleys and cages blocking aisles are sources of irritation for any shopper, but for BPS people they can be “disorienting and hazardous”, says Russell (though none of our mystery shoppers experienced an issue here). Constant changes to store layouts are another issue. Most people find this annoying. For BPS shoppers, it can be deeply unsettling.

“We have to use our muscle memory to locate things, so it’s really annoying when stores move things around,” says Seema Flower, the founder and managing director of disability training consultancy Blind Ambition. “That’s something I want to pick up with them: they should not be moving staples like milk, potatoes, fruit around.”

Read more:

• Asda apologises after blind mystery shopper belittled by staff

• Tesco scores highest in our visual imparement mystery shop

• There are clear lessons to be learned from our visually impaired mystery shop 

As we’ve seen, the availability and quality of in-store assistance also varies greatly. Sometimes the help is “fantastic” – at others it can be “abysmal” or “a nightmare”. Sylvia Chengo, 37, a BPS shopper from east London, says she sometimes feels “infantilised”.

“They should ask precisely what sort of help I need, and do I want them to wait for me to support further,” she adds. “Sometimes they just hand you the item and walk away. And it’s like: ‘Oh, OK.’”

Flower says she’s been escorted into a store by a helpful taxi driver, only for staff to ask: “Why don’t you get him to walk you around?” She’s also been given the duty manager’s number to call in advance of shopping trips, but then the number is never answered.

Calling ahead to arrange assistance is a common requirement, and all the supermarkets bar Morrisons say they offer this service. But all five of our mystery shoppers were told just to turn up. In theory that’s great: the need for planning is unfair, says Brown. While “someone without vision impairment can just pop there whenever they want”, requests for three days’ notice are not uncommon, he reports. Bazzard says she has had to give notice of more than a week.

And when BPS shoppers do decide to visit a supermarket off the cuff, waiting times can be anywhere between 15 and 90 minutes for assistance.

“It can be very hit and miss, depending on what store you go to and the time you go,” adds Flower. “I think it’s really important for supermarkets to understand that sometimes you want to do things spontaneously.”

Apps and new tech

So what about all the new tech? Some BPS shoppers are not tech-savvy and prefer to avoid technology altogether. Among our mystery shoppers there was widespread criticism that supermarkets did not pay attention to the basics like the small labels on shelving and overhead signage.

But there are a host of new tools. Be My Eyes works by connecting BPS shoppers with remote trained volunteers and Tesco staff to help on everything from identifying products on shelf to receiving assistance with self-checkouts.

Another cutting-edge technology, supported by a number of brands, is NaviLens, “a high-contrast QR code that can be detected from further away and wider angles and which provides spoken/haptic output, including product information”, explains Tommy Dean, a technology specialist at Guide Dogs UK.

While old-fashioned magnifying glasses still work, built-in device functionality such as magnification, colour filters and screen readers like VoiceOver or TalkBack, which work on Apple and Android devices respectively, “are now a key part of the tech toolkit” for BPS shoppers, Dean adds. Seeing AI and Meta Glasses have also received praise.

But while these technologies are potentially useful, there’s a problem when using them in store. “The issue a lot of us have with supermarkets is [the reception]: when you get further in, the signal’s not good,” says Brown. “I think it’s the design of the buildings. It can cut out.” Bazzard has experienced this issue using Meta Glasses, and when she Googles products to find out key information using a screen reader, connection issues impede that too.

Some BPS shoppers say the in-store experience is so challenging they tend to do their shopping online now, especially the ‘big shop’.

“When you have a really bad experience in store, your confidence gets dented, and you need a break to build up your confidence,” Bazzard reveals. “I’m at a point where I’m avoiding using in-store services because it’s too unreliable, you don’t know what you’re going to get, and you can be left feeling quite vulnerable.”

But shopping online also throws up access and consistency issues. Bazzard says she will only use supermarket apps because “websites are awful” due to an overload of information. Brown, on the other hand, prefers websites because the zoom function works better than on apps.

Online shops

Most supermarkets say they’ve invested in making their websites and apps compatible with assistive technologies, but that appears to be where their efforts for online shopping end. BPS shoppers say they’re unaware of specific accessibility features provided by the retailers and having a good online experience is due to the capabilities of their phone, laptop or tablet.

Dean says options like “repeat orders, favourites, delivery notes, substitution preferences, scheduled deliveries, and contactless drop-off options” all make a big difference.

“Among the major supermarket apps, Ocado stands out as the strongest,” according to Russell at Retina UK. “People find it highly accessible, responsive and willing to fix issues when they arise.” Waitrose’s app, on the other hand, is “clunky and less smooth”.

Ocado’s ‘Life’ icon is also highly valued for online shopping, as it provides a clear minimum freshness period for delivered products, making it easier to manage food safely without sighted assistance. “For some, this alone is enough to make Ocado their preferred – and only – choice,” says Russell.

The future

When asked whether she feels well catered for by supermarkets, Bazzard is unequivocal. “No, I don’t. They’re all trying to get as much bang for their buck as possible, so they’re catering to the mass market, which is very visual. You can pack people in like sardines and they’ll weave around each other. What’s the biggest thing they can do? Improve their internet.”

Chengo also wants to see more accessible websites and apps. “The settings should literally be right in front of your face. It should be immediately obvious how to change it,” she says. As to in-person shopping, the biggest want is for staff to have the right training. “Currently, that’s not often the case. Half the time when staff are supportive it’s just because they’re nice people, rather than knowing: this is what I need to do, as per my training.”

“The core level of assistance hasn’t changed dramatically in recent years”

Jane Russell, comms manager at Retina UK

At the same time, BPS shoppers are generally loath to criticise shopworkers, most of whom are trying their best. “Staff are under a lot of pressure,” says Flower. “The stores are under-resourced. And if you put somebody who hasn’t had the right training in front of a blind person, they’ll usually freeze. It’s not their fault.

“The problem is we have certain multinational companies who advertise themselves as a Visibly Better Employer through the RNIB, for example. But then they’re failing on the customer end. It doesn’t add up. The customer experience is not reflecting what they’re telling us the culture of the organisation is in terms of equality and diversity. Maybe they’re trying to do things around recruitment – but what happens to us, the people that are ‘just’ customers?”