Asda finish bottom of supermarket league tables for customer service and availability
Sainsbury's placed top for the fourth year in a row by industry 'bible' The Grocer
RETAIL giant Asda has finished dead last in the annual supermarket league table for customer service and product availability.
Industry bible The Grocer tested the ‘Big Five’ chains last year using mystery shoppers and found the Walmart-owned company lagged behind their rivals in the two key categories.
The Grocer 33 awards handed the top prize to Sainsbury’s for the fourth year running.
However, one of the men responsible for Sainsbury’s incredibly high standards, Roger Burnley, is joining Asda as deputy CEO in October in a bid to get them back on track.
The prestigious ‘33’ awards tests the top supermarkets - Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose – for product availability, the price they charge, the state of the stores and customer service.
The number 33 signifies the amount of items which are bought at random by the mystery shopper.
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Fellow giant Tesco came in second for both customer service and availability for the second year in a row.
Bryan Roberts of analysts TCC Global Insights, told The Grocer: "These figures reinforce the view that Asda needs to do more to win the hearts and minds of shoppers; better stores, better product, better service."
For availability Sainsbury's scored an excellent 97.4%, followed by both Tesco and Morrisons with 95.9%.
Asda, with 93.2%, was narrowly beaten in the availability category by ‘posh’ supermarket Waitrose which scored 94.2%.
For customer service Sainsbury's scored an impressive 71.4%, ahead of Tesco with 68.3% and Morrisons and Waitrose tied on 63.9%.
Asda scored just 63.4% for the key category which was down 65.9% the previous year.
Popular budget chains Aldi and Lidl are not included because their range of products are not as extensive however their prices are used as a 'guest' comparison and are, unsurprisingly, lower.
Morrisons, which finished bottom last year, moved up to third for customer service.
Analysts say this is a result of taking on 5,000 more staff to improve morale.
Group director of Morrisons Gary Mills said: "We have listened to customers and what they want is great service, shorter queues and better availability, especially at the busiest times."
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