Beyond the Battle of the Ads, how is the CX being delivered?
It’s the festive season. Supermarkets are competing for attention. The battle of the Ads is once again underway. We all have our favourites; but while this may matter on our screens, what really matters in-store – the customer experience - can be forgotten at this wonderful time of the year.
So how are the UK main Supermarkets stacking up against each other when it comes to service?
Through our Pulse programme (see below), our dedicated Mystery Shoppers keep us up to date with how service and engagement are really being delivered on the shop floor. We wanted to take a moment now – at a time of year that’s all about all of us hopefully getting what we need, sharing what we love, and warmth and friendliness – to share with you which of our Supermarkets are really engaging with their customers.
Friendly Service
Despite its reputation as a budget focused retailer, ALDI consistently leads the pack in offering friendly service. This year, ASDA and Lidl are close behind, underlining that friendly service doesn’t have to come at a premium.
| Rank | Brand | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALDI | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.4 |
| 2 | ASDA | 8.2 | 7.9 | 8.2 |
| 3 | Lidl | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.7 |
| 4 | Sainsbury’s | 7.9 | 8.6 | 7.8 |
| 5 | Tesco | 7.7 | 7.9 | 7.6 |
| 6 | Waitrose | 7.5 | 8.0 | 6.3 |
| 7 | Morrisons | 7.2 | 8.0 | 7.2 |
Needs Met
ALDI come out top too for meeting customer needs, cementing its position as a favourite for consumers seeking reliability and value.
| Ranking | Brand | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALDI | 8.7 | 8.4 | 8.6 |
| 2 | Sainsbury’s | 8.3 | 8.6 | 8.0 |
| 2 | Waitrose | 8.3 | 9.2 | 7.6 |
| 4 | Lidl | 8.1 | 8.1 | 7.9 |
| 5 | ASDA | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.5 |
| 5 | Tesco | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.1 |
| 7 | Morrisons | 7.1 | 7.1 | 7.4 |
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
How likely are you to tell others how good service and quality are? Through NPS we measure customers’ loyalty by understanding whether they would recommend a store to family and friends.
Across all 7 supermarkets, NPS has seen modest growth over the last three years (from 31 in 2022 to 33 in 2024), but the individual results paint a more variable picture.
With ALDI being so well liked for its friendliness and valued for meeting customer needs, it’s not surprising that it puts the star on top of the tree in terms of customer recommendation.
| Brand | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALDI | 61 | 40 | 51 |
| 2 | Sainsbury’s | 43 | 37 | 27 |
| 3 | ASDA | 22 | 28 | 32 |
| 4 | Tesco | 18 | 32 | 35 |
| 5 | Lidl | 16 | 29 | 27 |
| 6 | Waitrose | 15 | 55 | -22 |
| 7 | Morrisons | -5 | -5 | 9 |
What’s the key to service in 2025? Back to basics: Enjoyable, Easy, Value.
As we look ahead to 2025, we are witnessing a growing trend amongst Retailers to ‘get back to basics’, focusing on the key elements of service that, perhaps, have been a little neglected in recent years as retailers have embraced the technological advances of AI. Consumers are embracing, and seeking, simplicity, choosing to engage with brands that pay attention to the fundamentals of service.
In the supermarket environment, we want an enjoyable (friendliness, cleanliness) and easy (product availability, checkout) experience that delivers value for money (price, quality). It will be the brands that focus on getting these basics right that will ultimately win the market-share battle.
To find out more about how we can help any organisation develop and improve their customer’s experience, contact Danielle Sones, Managing Director (danielle@aba.co.uk / 0161 431 1221).
Source: ABa Pulse programme n=2,253
Pulse
Our Pulse programme allows us to keep track of the customer experience across a wider range of industry sectors (https://pulse.myaba.co.uk/), with our UK wide Mystery Shopping team telling us about their experiences. It is a short app-based survey giving us a snapshot of industry trends by capturing:
- How likely they would be to recommend to friends & family (NPS) (What is NPS?)
- How friendly the colleagues were
- If the customer’s needs were met
