The Grocer – 17 August 2019

analysis the grocer 33

17 | The Grocer | 17 August 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

mystery shopper

T

esco is beginning to
dominate the Grocer 33
service and availabil-
ity category, in the same way
Asda is on top in pricing. This
week Tesco won for the fourth
time in a row as its Extra store in
Crawley scored 81 points.
Our shopper was able to pick
up all bar two items, and she
was particularly impressed by
a member of staff on the shop
floor who was “polite, smart
and helpful”. She also hailed
her checkout experience as
“one of the smoothest ever”.
Our shopper at Sainsbury’s in
Newcastle-under-Lyme was full
of praise for her checkout opera-
tor, who she said “brightened
my day”. Several other members
of staff were friendly and help-
ful too. However, the shop was
hampered by several “aban-
doned” restocking trolleys.
Waitrose Nine Elms was
described as having “impecca-
ble” store standards. Our shop-
per said this medium-sized
store felt much bigger than it
was. But one out-of-stock and
seven not-stocked lines had a
big impact on its score.
A heavy downpour seemed to
have affected the collection of
trolleys at Asda Accrington: our
shopper found it difficult to find
one. She also spotted restocking
taking place and empty unat-
tended boxes. However, staff
were friendly and helpful, offer-
ing recipe tips for the pork loins.
First impressions of
Morrisons Bishopbriggs were
not good, with dirty win-
dows and chipped paintwork.
However, inside it was “bright
and cheerful”, though some
areas were “not well organised
or stocked”. Our shopper said
her encounters with staff were
positive, but she had to go out of
her way to find them.

Ronan Hegarty

How did you get into store man-

agement? I’ve had a bit of his-

tory at this store. I used to work

here until seven years ago as a

department manager and came

back in October. I’ve been at

Tesco for 23 years since I was 16.

It’s a demanding job with a lot

of unsociable hours and espe-

cially at certain times – you

don’t get a Christmas. But it’s an

extremely rewarding career too.

What was your first experi-

ence as a manager? I started at

Sevenoaks Metro about seven

years ago. Since then I’ve been

a manager at various stores of

all different sizes, which is good

experience to have.

What is the biggest difference

between managing a Metro

compared with an Extra? At a

Metro you touch and feel every

part of the operation, but when

you have a big store it’s about

passing on your knowledge and

responsibilities to others in the

management team. Metro was a

great grounding.

Would you be sad to see the

Metro format disappear? I don’t

think it will disappear, I think it

will evolve. Even five years ago

you could see the way custom-

ers were shopping had started to

change, and I think the Metros

have to change with that.

What is the impact of being so

close to Gatwick Airport? We

have a lot of people using the

store who work at the airport.

We are the only 24-hour store

in the area. And we have peo-

ple stocking up with things

for holiday, like suitcases and

headphones.

What’s the latest addition to

the store? We’ve just had a new

hand car wash installed, run by

a company called Waves. Space

was quite tight but we managed

to make room in the car park

and it’s going really well. It’s

really convenient for people.

How are the electric car charg-

ing points going? We’ve got

four in front of the store and

two in the back. People can go

online and book a slot. They are

always busy. A lot of people say

they shop here because they

can charge their cars while they

do their shopping.

Tesco takes

fourth win

in a row

Matt Ayling was talking to Ian

Quinn

Winner: Tesco Extra, Crawley

Store manager: Matt Ayling

Opened: 1986

Size: 85,000 sq ft

Market share: 22.2%

Nearest rivals: Lidl – 0.5 miles

Sainsbury’s – 1.6 miles

Aldi – 1.8 miles

Morrisons – 1.9 miles

Store data source: Analysis by CACI.

Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000

store of the week

GOLD MEMBERS GET MORE!

Read itemised service score breakdowns and

full mystery shopper comments from each

store visit at thegrocer.co.uk/grocer-

WEEK 9: SATURDAY 10 AUGUST 2019, 9AM-11AM WINNER

SERVICE & AVAILABILITY Asda MorrisonsSainsbury’s Tesco Waitrose

Accrington,

Lancashire

Bishopbriggs,

E Dunbarton

Newcastle-

under-Lyme

Hazelwick,

Crawley

Nine Elms,

London

Car park score (out of 10) 8 10 5 9 10

Store standards score (20) 14 9 9 14 15

Store layout (10) 4 7 8 8 10

Shop floor service (20) 15 15 19 15 17

Checkout score (20) 14 16 16 19 14

Availability score (20) 11 7 13 16 1

TOTAL (100) 66 64 70 81 67

Out of stock/not stocked 1/2 1/4 1/1 0/2 1/

Availability 96.8% 96.6% 96.9% 100% 96.2%