Aldi overtakes Waitrose to top satisfaction ranking whilst Sainsbury’s comes last

12 February 2018 | International retailers

Aldi has leapfrogged Waitrose and M&S to be rated the UK’s favourite in-store supermarket in Which?’s annual best and worst supermarket satisfaction survey.

The discounter’s special offers rated well, as did the quality of its fresh and own label products and the ease of finding items on its shelves. It is the second time Aldi has come top in Which?’s annual survey – the previous occasion was in 2014.

Waitrose has been knocked off the top spot (see last year’s results), which it held for three years, and dropped to fourth position. Its customers gave it a two star rating for its value for money, in contrast to Aldi’s five.

M&S maintained its second place ranking (see below) in the in-store survey with five star ratings across store appearance, quality of own label products and the quality of fresh products.

Lidl came in third position with five stars for its value for money, but did not do so well with customers when it came to queuing time, staff availability and range of products.

Meanwhile, the Big Four supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s – still languish disappointingly at the bottom of the survey despite their recent efforts to improve their offering. Sainsbury’s slipped down the ranking to last place, with shoppers least impressed with its special offers and value for money.

Commenting on the result, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson said it was “confused by the methodology” used to create the rankings, pointing out that its stores had outperformed Aldi in the star ratings system on measures such as store appearance, queuing time, staff availability and range of products and had matched it on quality of own label products and fresh products.

Looking at online grocery services, Iceland claimed the top spot for the third year running, which it shares with Ocado for the first time. Iceland received five stars for its driver’s service and the availability of delivery slots – with three quarters (76%) of shoppers saying their most recent order was delivered on time.

Asda remained at the bottom of the online table, where it has been for more than a decade.

Having launched in 2016, Amazon Fresh has been included in the online survey for the first time, coming in fifth position. The service is currently only available to certain postcodes in the south east.

Alex Neill, Managing Director of Which? Home Products and Services, commented: “With food costs rising it seems as though shoppers have felt the pinch and are voting with their feet and wallets. Aldi and Lidl have won over their customers with value for money, knocking Waitrose off the top spot.

“The big four supermarkets need to up their game or risk losing their customers to other supermarkets who are doing a better job of giving people what they want.”