Waitrose coffee

Source: Waitrose

Waitrose has climbed from last place to second out of the five retailers we visit every week

Waitrose is reaping the rewards of a host of new measures aimed at improving availability and customer service.

Last week Tesco walked off with the Grocer Gold Awards for both service and availability based on the results of the Grocer 33 weekly mystery shopping survey. This had as much to do with a decline in both areas at Sainsbury’s and it was in fact Waitrose that was by far the most improved performer.

Over the course of the past 12 months, Waitrose has climbed from last place to second out of the five retailers we visit every week. Its average service & availability score was 68.6 out of 100 in the most recent Grocer 33 year, which concluded last week. This was up 3.7 points compared with the previous 12-month period. It was the only retailer to improve its average score and the only one to improve its availability percentage, up to 95% compared with 94.2% a year earlier. Tesco’s availability remained unchanged at 65.6%. However its overall service and availability score fell from 71.4 to 69.7. Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda all saw declines in their average scores and availability percentages.

Waitrose shop trade director Mark Gifford said these areas had been a “real priority”.

He said Waitrose had changed the way it ran shops, with more flexibility to enable people to be in the right place at the right time. It was making sure it restocked a greater amount of products at key times of the day and shifted more online picking into its night shifts.

This work on stock disciplines had led to better stock file accuracy, and more accurate forecasting.

“We have introduced new reporting tools that enable within-day availability measures to improve decision making, and we have improved planning processes across our supply chain and commercial teams to ensure product launches and events run smoothly,” he added.

Service improvements had come from a number of new initiatives, said Gifford. These included rolling out multi-functional devices to help staff give better information to customers and its service ambassador trial, placing staff at the front of stores to give a personal welcome.

It’s part of a wider move for all partners to be food ambassadors, he added, recruiting (and training) people who not only love food but love talking to customers about it and have an interest in issues surrounding food, such as packaging, sourcing and animal welfare. Around 5,000 partners are going to its School of Food this year.