Asda in Dundee got the most love from our mystery shop on Valentine’s Day, with a creditable 82 points.
This week’s darling put in a strong performance in most areas, including shop floor service. Our shopper said she couldn’t “rate the staff highly enough”: all looked smart and tidy, and willingly helped search for items.
Overall, the store provided “a good shopping experience”. It was clean and tidy and, while the shelves were being restocked “all the time”, there were no trolleys causing obstruction. Our shopper even went the extra mile by checking the toilets, which were clean “apart from a couple of bits of toilet paper on the floor”.
The only slight downside was availability, in a patchy week for stock levels across the board. Our winner scored just 12 points out of 20 thanks to two out-of-stocks.
Tesco, so often the bride in recent weeks, had to settle for bridesmaid status this time around. Though with 80 points, its West Lothian store ran its Scottish counterpart close.
On availability, Tesco also recorded two out-of-stocks and zero not-stocked items – but excelled on the tills and checkouts with a perfect 20 score.
Our shopper was impressed to see the “very nice and friendly young man” on the checkout remembered her from a previous visit – remarking it is “so nice when you get this kind of service”.
Thanks to a recent refurb, the store layout had changed considerably. However, shop floor staff were “helpful” with their directions.
Our shopper noted the counters were in good shape after the refurb, with a particularly impressive bakery.
The bottom three slots were separated by just four points this week.
Morrisons in Denton, Manchester, secured third with a score of 72. It could have challenged the top two if it weren’t for two out-of-stocks and two not-stocked items, which hampered its availability score.
Our shopper found it “fairly easy” to locate most of the items on the list, though the chilled displays were “frustratingly split into two sections at opposite ends of the store”. Our shopper was also less than convinced by the music, which was “a little too maudlin”.
On a brighter note, staff were well presented and “reasonably helpful” when asked for help, though our shopper noted they did not check the warehouse or investigate any further.
In fourth place came Sainsbury’s in Street with 71 points. Like Morrisons, it recorded two out-of-stocks and two not-stocked items.
The store scored well on shop floor service: staff were “working hard replenishing shelves”, happily checked the warehouse and other aisles for products and were generally “polite and helpful”. However, a number of restocking trolleys caused “some inconvenience to customers”, while there were some gaps on shelves – particularly in the bakery section and the fruit & veg aisle.
There was little love in the air this week for Waitrose in Salisbury, which came in last on 68 points. It performed moderately on availability considering it was less than half the size of any other store, but was let down by what appeared to be raw chicken juice seeping from packaging on to the shelf.
There was also one low, flat trolley on wheels that could have “caused an accident like an unmanned skateboard” in the aisle. However, our shopper did point out staff were “incredible”.
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