Tesco drops to eighth place in battle to be best UK supermarket

The chain comes eighth place out of ten major retailers, according to the analysis of which grocery giants offer the best shopping experience.

Tesco suffered a poor trading period last Christmas, followed by profit warnings, share price falls and a revamp of its own-brand range after poor sales.

Only “no frill” specialists Aldi and Lidl are below them in the top ten, with all Tesco’s “big four” rivals doing better in the study by consumer website canieatit.co.uk.

Using its own research and feedback from thousands of users, the site has tested every aspect of the “shopping experience” in each of the chains.

This includes how easy it is to get around stores, the range in each department and the helpfulness of staff.

In addition, the site has bought and tasted thousands of products – both branded and own label – to compare prices, choice, quality and concerns such as salt and sugar levels.

All the information is then put on to a smart phone app so that users can scan the barcode of any grocery product and get all the information on their mobile phone.

Using all this data and consumer feedback allowed canieatit.co.uk to rank the supermarkets for their overall shopping experience.

Top of the table is Waitrose, which has improved its overall range while making its own label products more competitively priced, said canieatit.co.uk

This means it competes better with upmarket rivals such as M&S and mid-market competitors like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – the big four.

Ocado, the independent online grocer which sells both branded and Waitrose own-label goods, is in second.

Martin Isark of canieatit.co.uk said: “Tesco, like Asda, has not done badly, they have just not improved as much as the supermarkets above them.

“Their aisle staff’s product knowledge is not as good as it could be. Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s lead the way.”

He added: “The staff seem the least at ease of the big supermarkets. The fresh fish and meat counters are a big step down from Morrisons with their  service and quality.

“The fruit and veg is not as consistent or as good as Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s or the Co-operative.

“The freshly baked bread is a notch below Sainsbury’s and no better than Lidl’s.”

Marks & Spencer is in third place, with Sainsbury’s behind them, slightly ahead of The Co-operative.

TOP TEN

Waitrose – score 9.5

Ocado - score 9.0

Marks & Spencer - score 8.5

Sainsbury’s - score 8.0

The Co-operative - score 7.5

Morrisons - score 7.0

Asda - score 6.5

Tesco - score 6.0

Aldi - score 5.5

Lidl - score 5.0