Marks & Spencer has been voted the UK’s favourite in-store supermarket despite a strong showing from discounters Aldi and Lidl as consumers face up to the cost-of-living crisis.
The high street stalwart’s upscale food offering received a customer score of 78% in the annual Which? survey, receiving five stars for store appearance, customer service and the quality of its own-brand and fresh products.
Last year’s top scorer Aldi was narrowly pipped to the post with a 77% customer score, and was the only supermarket to get a full five stars for value for money.
Survey respondents described it as “cheap and cheerful” but said it was let down by long queues.
Waitrose completed the top three with 75% but, like M&S, suffered lower scores on value for money.
The ‘big four’ supermarkets – Tesco (70%), Sainsbury’s (68%), Asda (67%) and Morrisons (67%) – were all in the bottom half of the table for their in-store offering.
Co-op was voted the worst in-store supermarket, languishing at the bottom of the ranking for the second year running with a 61% customer score.
Customers told Which? it was “expensive”, “always crowded” and had “long queues at checkout”.
When it came to online supermarkets, Iceland was voted the best with a score of 76%, winning five stars for its availability of delivery slots and how easy its website or app was to use.
Tesco scored alongside Ocado (74%) as joint second best online supermarket.
Online-only Ocado (74%) was the only supermarket to get the full five stars for its product range.
Which? magazine editor Harry Rose said: “Shoppers have chosen M&S as their favourite supermarket for a great in-store shopping experience and quality products.
“But with the cost of living continuing to rise, many people are looking for quality at the cheapest possible price, and this is reflected by a strong showing in our research for some of the least expensive supermarkets.”
M&S chief operating officer and food managing director Stuart Machin said: “As M&S Food modernises to become a bigger, better, fresher food business and expand our appeal to enable more customers to shop bigger baskets, this is a welcome endorsement.”
A Co-op spokesman said: “Which?’s results are based on a sample of just over 200 people but each week more than 15 million shoppers overwhelmingly vote with their feet and visit our community stores.
“They choose Co-op for quick and friendly service from our colleagues and to buy our award-winning food and drink and honest value range, which offers ethically sourced Fairtrade and 100% British meat products at a fair price to shoppers.”
Which? surveyed 3,057 members of the public online in October, of whom 1,304 reported their online grocery shopping experience.
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