Problems with stock levels and untidiness could see Marks & Spencer being left behind in the battle for supermarket consumers, the new customer experience report concludes.

Based on mystery shopping research conducted during April and May, Prophet found that Waitrose is the best performing supermarket in terms of exceeding the customer expectations of individual supermarkets. The positive news for Waitrose is even more impressive because customer experience expectations were higher than for other chains like Aldi and Lidl.

The report reveals that all supermarkets met customer expectations for food quality and freshness. Looking in more detail, Waitrose won plaudits for the total experience it offers customers including location, design and layout of stores, quality and range of products, stock levels, as well as helpful and knowledgeable staff who had a good attitude to helping customers. The only negative was the lack of a store loyalty card for those who do not have a John Lewis credit card.

Sainsbury’s also scored highly for the convenient location of its stores, the excellent design and layout, and their customer service (especially from aisle staff who were generally found to be very willing to leave what they were doing to help shoppers find particular products). Tesco also scored highly for the helpfulness of aisle staff and the lay out of its stores, and for their parking facilities, but came just below Sainsbury’s in terms of stock levels and the efficiency and friendliness of check out staff.

At the top end of the market Whole Foods matched the very high levels of food quality expected, exceeded expectations of cleanliness and stock levels and the expertise of staff, but was let down by the fact that shelves were too high, the check-out too slow, and the prices too high, even for the exceptional quality of food available.

At the opposite end of the scale, the likes Aldi and Lidl performed well delivering the expected good value.
Marks & Spencer stores did meet the high standards expected of food quality but shoppers were consistently disappointed by stock levels and general untidiness.

Vanessa Cohen, partner at Prophet said, “The research is not saying that the customer experience at Marks & Spencer is below average. It’s saying that compared to what customers expect from Marks & Spencer, the customer experience is not as good as it should be. Clearly the bar is set higher for the likes of M&S and Waitrose but while Waitrose managed to be exceptionally above expectations, M&S was a slight disappointment. M&S may have lagged as levels of customer expectations rise, and the performance of its rivals continues to improve”.

Mystery shoppers were asked to grade 25 different criteria on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being exceptionally below expectations and 5 being exceptionally above expectations. Each supermarket was graded against the level of customer experience expectation for that particular supermarket brand. None of the mystery shoppers were asked to visit the supermarket at which they regularly shop. Shoppers were also asked to give an overall grade with Waitrose averaging a score of 4.5, while Marks & Spencer was the only supermarket with an average score below the ‘at expectation’ grade of 3, gaining a 2.5 mark.

The full list of the grades (out of five) awarded during the research is as follows
Waitrose – 4.5
Sainsbury’s – 4.2
Whole Foods – 3.9
Tesco – 3.5
Asda – 3.3
Aldi – 3.2
Lidl – 3.1
Morrison’s - 3
Somerfield - 3
The Co-op – 3

In all cases the quality of products, the range of produce and their freshness matched or exceeded expectations but indifferent or inconsistent levels of customer service, excessive queues at the check out, untidiness, poor or dated in-store design and layout all played their part in keeping scores down.