Waitrose ranked best UK supermarket in annual Which survey
Waitrose has been ranked as the best supermarket in the UK in an annual satisfaction survey conducted by Which.
The chain, which is owned by John Lewis, hit five stars on most categories, but did come joint-last in value for money.
Budget supermarkets Aldi and Lidl continue to be ranked highest in terms of value.
It is the second year in a row that Waitrose has been named as the UK’s top grocery store.
“The quality of fresh products is the most important factor when choosing where to shop in store,” said Which magazine editor Harry Rose.
“There’s clear room for improvement for the ‘big four’ – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda – as they continue to trail behind Waitrose and Marks & Spencer for experience, and behind Aldi and Lidl on value,” he added
Asda was rated the worst supermarket by Which’s 14,000 surveyed members.
The chain scored well on goods available in store but received just one star for its recyclable packaging and products without packaging.
The survey found that Asda did not excel in value like Aldi or Lidl or in-store experience like Waitrose and M&S. It also scored just two stars for own-label product quality.
Asda responded by pointing out many of the members had not recently visited one of its stores.
An Asda spokesman said: “We’re always happy to take feedback – but as 70 per cent of the Which panel surveyed haven’t visited an Asda in the last six months, we don’t believe their findings are a true reflection of the experience of our 18 million weekly shoppers.
He added: “We’re constantly striving to improve our offer to our customers – be that through the efforts of our hardworking colleagues, the 1,272 new products we launched in 2019, the 530 awards we won for quality, the 8,000 tonnes of plastic packaging we removed from our stores or the 22nd annual Grocer Award for being the best-priced supermarket.”
M&S came just behind Waitrose with an overall rating of 73 per cent due to its slightly inferior store experience and product range.
However it continues to excel for the quality of its food and drink.
Morrisons and Sainsbury’s were rated as mid-table with Tesco just below. Iceland were ranked second from bottom.
The survey also found people were most frustrated by waiting for help at self-service checkouts and a lack of staffed checkouts.
| Supermarket | Overall customer satisfaction |
| Waitrose | 76% |
| Marks & Spencer | 73% |
| Aldi | 71% |
| Lidl | 67% |
| Morrisons | 65% |
| Sainsbury’s | 64% |
| Tesco | 61% |
| Iceland | 60% |
| Asda | 58% |