Waitrose is the best supermarket in the UK, closely followed by the discounters who outstripped the supermarket multiples on a number of customer measures.

Waitrose returned to the top spot in the ranking by consumer watchdog Which? after Aldi pipped it into second place last year. The survey of 7,000 shoppers rated the leading supermarkets for customer service, pricing, quality of own brands, store experience and product availability.

Waitrose overall customer score was 73%, with shoppers in the survey giving it top marks for service, store environment, own label and fresh products. Aldi scored 72% and unsurprisingly earned a five-star rating for its pricing. Iceland and Lidl shared third spot with Mark & Spencer, all scoring 69%. Iceland’s surprise position close to the top of the ranking was down to its good service, store environment and pricing.

Meanwhile, performance of the major multiples mirrored their poor trading figures with Morrisons and Sainsbury's scoring 63%, followed by Asda on 62% and Tesco on a lowly 60%. The Co-operative (49%) was again named the worst supermarket with it drawing criticism for its poor customer service and uncompetitive pricing.

Ocado again came top of the ranking for online grocery services, followed by Iceland and Waitrose.

Which? Executive Director Richard Lloyd commented: “Waitrose has returned to the top of our supermarket league table, rated the best for customer satisfaction by the public and narrowly beating Aldi, last year's number one. Thousands of people told us that value and good quality food products are the most important factors in choosing where to shop.”