Sainsbury’s has upped its game when it comes to service, according to The Grocer’s mystery shopping competition.
For the fourth week in a row, Sainsbury’s has claimed the top spot, making it the only winner so far in the Grocer 33 year.
Last year Sainsbury’s won just eight mystery shops when it came to service, with Waitrose taking 20 wins.
Sainsbury’s average score for this year so far is an impressive 84 points. This is a sharp contrast to an average score of just 70 in the first four weeks of last year. Across the whole year the retailer averaged just 62 points.
Strong availability proved a boost for Sainsbury’s scores, with two full baskets so far and two baskets with only one missing item.
The retailer seized the crown on availability in last year’s Grocer 33 awards, after breaking Tesco’s four-year streak.
Sainsbury’s is understood to be holding higher stock levels throughout its supply chain in an effort to prioritise availability.
The retailer also provided our mystery shoppers with outstanding shop floor service over the past four weeks, scoring full marks on three occasions.
Staff were consistently helpful, well presented and working hard to restock shelves.
The four winning stores so far this year were Sainsbury’s Solihull, Bodmin, Dundee and Chester.
”Our team has been very focused on maintaining good availability for our customers,” said a Sainsbury’s spokeswoman.
“We really value the relationships we have with our farmers and suppliers and work closely with them to ensure that customers are able to buy what they need.”
The spokeswoman also pointed to more support for colleagues as key to their performance.
“Higher colleague engagement has in turn helped drive leading customer service,” she added.
“We’re offering more regular colleague discount uplifts over summer and extending free food in colleague areas indefinitely.”
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