Supermarkets - where do you shop?
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Even in these difficult times there's one area where business is still booming. The supermarkets. Last year we spent £113 billion at the checkout. But the supermarkets are taking no chances in 2009. With all of us being more careful about how and where we spend our money the big supermarkets are cutting their prices like never before to make sure that when we do our weekly shop - it's with them.
But is it all about price? What about quality? Choice? Maybe it's just a question of habit. We wanted to find out why you choose one supermarket over another and which one is your favourite.
The big four
The market has been dominated by the 'big four' - Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and, of course, Tesco, the giants of UK retail, who famously are said to account for £1 in every £8 that we spend in British shops. But their rivals want a piece of the action and, with customers watching their pennies, the gloves are off. Morrisons declared themselves the early winner in the supermarket price war with their sales rising faster than their rivals over recent months.
But none of the supermarkets can rest of their laurels. Experts say customer loyalty is at an all-time low.
Neil Saunders, consulting director at market research company Verdict, told us: "The market's so competitive and people are shopping around so much you can easily lose your customers to someone else. Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda are really streets ahead of everyone else in terms of customer and market share but actually now they're finding that some of the smaller guys, such as Aldi, Netto and the Lidl, are increasingly taking their customers."
The discounters are growing
Danish chain Netto and German rivals Aldi and Lidl only have 6 per cent of the grocery market between them, but now they're attracting customers who not long ago might have turned up their noses up at their no-frills approach.
Charles Kay, managing director at the discounter Netto, told us that their "stack em high" policy means they can pass on savings to the customer. He also says that attitudes to discounters like Netto are changing: " Historically Netto has always been considered a place where people without much money go. It's not embarrassing anymore to go with a Netto bag, in the old days people would hide it inside a Marks & Spencer bag."
Marks & Spencer has recently announced a drop in its sales and that it will be closing 27 stores. But now it's fighting back trying to tempt customers in with offers like its "dine in for £10" deal. And, it says, that it's dropping prices but not planning on dropping its standards.
We challenged two families to switch supermarkets
Are special offers enough to make you change your shopping habits? We asked two families to take a challenge and do their weekly shop somewhere they would never normally consider.
First we challenged Natasha and Angus Adams to ditch their favourite supermarket, Sainsbury's, and give Aldi a go.
Natasha said that she didn't recognise any of the brands and didn't like the fact that there were no offers: "What I didn't like was the fact that I don't walk away and think, "Wow, I've saved £10 because of buy-one-get-one-frees". Angus said that he would go back because he found the shop small and quick to get around.
We also sent Tesco fans Natalie Hand and Dave Moran to a supermarket that they've never been to - Waitrose. Dave said he had always thought Waitrose was a supermarket for people on diets. They found it a bit more expensive but liked the quality of the fruit and vegetables and said that they would go back.
We've all got our supermarket favourites, but are people changing the way they shop? We wanted to find out which supermarkets you love, which you're checking out and which you reckon are well past their sell by date.
The supermarket vote has now closed and the results will be revealed on Monday 23 February.
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Why do people use supermarkets over local shops? They are generally more expensive and the quality of their food is almost always not as good. The supermarkets have blackmailed the populice in to thinking that we need them. we don't! Try local - it always better.
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I shop at Asda,Tesco and Iceland but I tend to get my milk from Iceland as it is cheaper than the major supermarkets and i can also get frozen meat that can be cooked from frozen even though when I do cook the chicken it still tastes salty
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I used to shop in Tesco once a week but after my first visit to Lidil i changed.Even though Lidil is cheaper the customer service is bad,lighting is poor and the choice is not really there.I have now started to shop for some of my weekly shop in Tesco but tend to stick to buying only items on offer.
Happy shopping and saving!!
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no matter where i shop, i cannot afford to buy proper nutritious food for my family for a week. everything is so expensive i have gone back to having to buy processed food as the main bulk of my shopping. i feel quite depressed about it as i want my 3 young children to be healthy .
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Just a few months back I was a avid Tesco shopper, everything I needed under one roof - local too.
Recently though, I have noticed the price rise in a majority of there range, some of there economy items now costing more than high branded items.
Also since they have taken on a new range of food I've noticed that there quality and range has been reduced significantly.
As a mum of 3 kids on a low income I (sadly) rely on convienance food, and Tesco just doesn't seem to have the range I require ( although there chips freezer is signicantly full I'd rather not feed the kids chips with every meal! )
I have lost count of the amount of times I have been to tesco, only to find the freezers empty/not working and for those reasons ( although not just limited to) I've recently switched to iceland for my freezer shopping, there range is better, the price is better, the kids enjoy and like it more.
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I think a couple of things were missed on tonights programme with regard to the uspermarkets; first Aldi and Lidl the Quality is second to none and in some case's is better than the big four and cheaper by far, it's just that it is a brand that's not recognised by many (unless your a regular) and Second; and the most important for me in so many ways.. is that they pay their staff well and far higher than any other supermarket chain. And when you look at the massive profits generated by the others I think they should be ashamed of themselves. Its all about maximising profits for share holders and nothing to do with comsumers or staff etc..
(And the biggest of all Supermarkets moves most of its money offshore and out of the country!)
which I think speaks volumes.
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well we used to shop in tescos, then we went to asda and now we finally shop at lidl because we find it cheaper and its better quality then the rest of the supermarkets. Lidl is great better than all the other shops and we do save a bit of extra money every week.
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I live in Jersey in the Channel Islands, where we have two supermarket operators: the Channel Islands Co-Operative Society, and Sandpiper, who run the Checkers chain, and have the franchise to run Marks and Spencer. There have been calls over here to allow a third operator to come into Jersey, which, to date, have been rejected by the States of Jersey. The reason for the rejection has been that there is no need or desire for a third operator, even though a survey carried out by the local consumer affairs watchdog showed there was an overwhelming desire for a third operator (about 85% in favour if my memory serves me correctly), which seems to have been ignored. What we'd give to have a little bit more choice! Maybe you could come over and see what a lack of choice does for consumers?
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Until the middle of last year my wife and I used to shop at Tesco. However, they started to reduce their range of organic produce, increase prices, and we also noted a reduction both quality and variety of fresh produce; in addition the portion size was reduced whilst the price stayed the same. Finally the shopping environment was quite unpleasant. We now shop at Sainsbury's and Waitrose - a combination of these two gives us the opportunity to select the freshest produce at the best price, Sainsbury's are almost always better value than Tesco - all in a pleasant shopping environment. Sometimes I buy petrol and diesel at Tesco but that's all. They have lost this customer for good.
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We do use one of the "Big 4" for our weekly shop but we buy fruit and veg from a local small trader. We find the quality and choice is better and certainly much cheaper. We also use a local butcher as we have recently become concerned about the lack of care over animal welfare that most supermarkets show. I think that we are increasingly becoming disenchanted with our supermarkets and we ar trying to break the habit.
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I was interested to hear the opinons in the TV report of the couple who had previously never considered Waitrose. My husband and I recently experimented with changing our regular supermarket. We both have a high income and have been shopping at Waitrose regularly for 2 years. Towards the end of last year, we found out we were expecting a baby and combined with the credit crunch, we decided it was time to give the other supermarkets a try. First, we tried Lidl. We were pleasantly surprised by the range but disappointed by the quality; the thing which totally put us off was the fact that they don't accept credit cards as we use our card as our main payment method. Following this, we tried Morrissons for a period of about a month. There is no denying that we saved money - the prices are noticeably cheaper. However, after several disappointing trips where we were unable to buy about 10% of the items on our list, and after numerous poor quality meat and vegetable products - we finally decided to return to Waitrose. From now on we are just going to be more careful about the items we choose to buy, and evaluate whether we really need each item we buy. To us, the great customer service and the much higher product quality that Waitrose offers, is more important than the headline-grabbing offers of other supermarket brands.
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Stack em high, sell em cheap is one of my favourite phrases. In the early 70's when I was a child that's how Tesco and Sainsburys was, tins stacked high on pallets. One thing from my childhood I always remember. Now though people want to shop in pretty places, with huge ranges. All that comes at a cost and in today's economic climate I know which I would go for. Doesn't matter to me what a place looks like as long as it is clean and I don't need 50 pasta sauces to choose from.
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perhaps you should ask the Farmers who supply Tescos what they think of them and other supermarkets and what about the prog about Tescos and their chickens and Hugh Fernley Whittingstall
I personally think Tescos are far to big in this country and dominate the market too much they expect the farmer to produce for very little and then charge us twice as much.
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Aldi built a new store near me some 12 months ago.I have used Aldi before but now I use it regularly. The staff are great and seem to recognise me already. I was short of money once and they( the check out operative) said I know you you are regular so bring it in next time. I go regularly.
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i used to shop regular at Sainsburys, have now changed to Tesco, the difference in food prices at Tesco's is magic, i can save pounds. Sainsbury's say they have rollback prices but other prices have gone up, so what has come down on some items they get it back by other items going up in price,
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I have taken part in and submitted the supermarket survey. However, as a resident of the Isle of Man, I was unable to fill in the survey correctly. I shop regularly at the Co-op but do a monthly shop at Tesco because I believe we have very little choice on the Island, Tesco being the only major supermarket chain. Our local supermarket, Shoprite (selling Waitrose, Iceland & Others) is sadly uninspiring and, in the past has given cause for complaint.
[Note from Watchdog team: Thank you for your comment. We're very sorry about that mistake - which was very quickly corrected - and we're investigating how this happened. If you'd still like to take part, you can do so by clicking here.http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/quest/index.shtml]
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For me, Waitrose is easily the best supermarket merely because it's an open and stress-free environment. Places like Tescos have every aisle cramped and all the foods have notices stuck on them screaming "BUY ME! BUY ME!" with hundreds of posters hanging down so you can't find your way around. Such places are like some form of sensory overload, but compared to Waitrose, I admit they're cheaper. In the end, it's the smartie-covered cookie-men in the coffee bar which tips the balance in favour of a Waitrose when I'm passing!
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I use a supermarket price comparison website to find the BOGOFS then choose the ones that are in my normal shopping then because they are within 3 mile radius i bulk buy the offers from all the main supermarkets then leave with just the products on offer
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I would jst like to inform Watchdog that I am an owner of a small community shop and my nearest rival is in fact a Tesco's store.
Recently I was asked to wait in the store when a malfunction on the forecourt garage lighting meant my filling of my vehicle with petrol was delayed. Whilst waiting at the counter area i observed the confectionery prices and was totally shocked. 90% of all items were between 7p and 15p more expensive than my own shop! This led to me investigating other superstores! dishwasher tablets in Tescos were £1.75p more expensive, at sommerfields the same bread was 30p a loaf more expensive and milk was over 5p a pimt more expensive in the Co-Op. I make my margins with the items I sell and that is after buying these products at only one case when needed from the Cash & Carry. These Superstores purchase these items by the thousands so what sort of profit are they making?
The general public rely on the honesty of these supermarkets for good value and I can honestly state as a fact that some of these stores are misleading the public into thinking they are actually buying products as reasonable as possible. I call it the power of advertising, the ignorance of the public in believing that once they are in a Supermarket they are getting a good deal and the heartless attitude of these big stores in providing the customer with the best deals that are available.
I hope Watchdog will one day look at the small local community shop and the competition that it actually provides rather than promote these giant stores that are geedily taking over the entire market.
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I shop at Waitrose because I think it is the best of all the supermarkets although slightly more expensive. It is a pleasant experience to shop there, the food is good quality, the shop is clean, bright and airy and not too big. The staff are always pleasant and the variety of products very good.
I occasionally visit Aldi which is obviously good value for money but not a shop I want to linger in.
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was just wondering are people in northern ireland excluded from the supermarket survey as there is no region for us? we shop too!!!!!
[Note from Watchdog team: Thank you for your comment. We're very sorry about that mistake - which was very quickly corrected - and we're investigating how this happened. If you'd still like to take part, you can do so by clicking here.]
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I shop at Booths, a supermarket chain based in Preston and located around the Northwest. The shops are smaller than the big four but I don't want to visit a small country to do my shopping; I want to call in, find high quality items that I want, check the in season specials, buy food carrying the minimum of food miles, be treated like a customer instead of a nuisance, not be kept waiting at the tills too long, be able to ask experts about the fresh food and then go home knowing I've got the best I can. Without doubt I can do that at Booths. How about doing a bit of a report on them? We are lucky to have them here in the Northwest.
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I think the M & S dine in for £10 is brilliant and Nicky Campbell must have a huge appetite to complain that it is not enough for two people. He spoils Watchdog by complaining about such minor things.
Why does it take so long for comments to be moderated? Is it so that viewers will lose interest?
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Watchdog your supermarket survey doesn't take into consideration combination shoppers. We used to shop 100% at Waitrose we now have reduced the spend there and shop fortnightly at Lidl stocking up on staple lines and offers. We still basket shop at Waitrose for day to day items but now subscrible to their e-offer emails which we take advantage of. We are far more savvy shoppers now. I wouldn't use Tesco if it was the last supermarket on earth, unethical, monopolistic and unchecked. Best regards
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
We cook from scratch every day and, buying the fudamentals every week noticed the price hikes last year. finding no justification for 25% here and there I went to Lidyl.
Besides the bill for 4 people being £75 a week including wine what I love most is the banter between the staff and also the customers. Its such a friendly place. I'll carry on going there.
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You have assumed that everyone shops at a supermarket. We don't if we can avoid it.
We do most of our shopping in our local butcher, baker, greengrocer, deli and fishmonger. We visit a supermarket only for items we cannot buy in our local shops. The taste and quality of what we buy is excellent and we buy exactly the quanitiy we need. We hate the thought of buying mass produced food from a supermarket. We don't have any waste and consider we have excellent value for money.
We feel we support local enterprises and eat exceptionaly well.
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I shop at Tesco for convenience as it is local however,i find i have to buy what they want me to buy, their range is limited their weight watchers range is virtually non existant only selling what they feel you should buy. Their range of brands is very limited and i often have to buy products and brands i dont really want. I feel Tesco think because they are on every street corner they can dictate what i buy, their customer service is very poor complaints are not taken seriously and whenever possible i now shop at other supermarkets, i think it is becoming TESCOWORLD they are taking over,come on Sainsburys morrisons and Asda force your hand take them over or open stores where Tesco are i am sure more and more people would dump tesco if they had a choice.
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About a year ago I began to occasionally shop at an Aldi which was a long way away. My wife and I are foodies, we don't buy rubbish. Now we have a local Aldi so we do our main shop there. It is 30% cheaper than Tesco and 50% cheaper than Waitrose. You have to pick your purchases and give them a try to ensure you like them. Aldi have a limited number of lines, so we buy the small number of things we can't get there from Waitrose. Aldi's wines are fine midweek drinkers. We sometimes go to Tesco to buy soon out of date items which go in the freezer. Our meat and eggs comes from local farms direct, the meat is purchased in bulk. For fish we shop at Makro where it is half the price of the fishmonger (and fresher). We have the time to do this and it all makes our pension go further. We use our Tesco points (from our Tesco credit card) to get £1000 off a Cosmos Holiday, 1/4 price magazine subscriptions, cross channel trips and visits to London shows, so Tesco isnt all bad.
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The biggest supermarkets in my area are no doubt Asda and Tesco where there is big competition to cut prices. However, it doesn't matter how many clubcard points you gain and how many pennies you seem to save in many so-called offers, there is no actual saving made from a weekly shop because the prices are bumped up elsewhere in the store.
I shop at Aldi and from originally shopping regularly at Asda I make an average of a £10 saving a week which is a huge difference. As proved in the programme, the shop is small to get around quickly, and there are hardly any big name brands. But why should people have to rely on what the advertising label says on the tin when just as good quality is sold for a much cheaper price?
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i shop at asda but also at aldi and my local fruit and veg market.i shop at these places because of value for money and the quality of asda and aldi own brand goods.i would to do my grocery shopping at M&S as i do like their things,but i cannot afford to do so.
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For a number of years,on Mondays, we have shopped at Lidl & Sainsbury's. Since Lidl got their award prices have increased,EG. Tomatoes Tnd were 19p then 21p now 33p! Skimmed milk,45p then 49p now 54p. Promotions are generally ongoing.
Always enjoyed Sainsbury's but recently on Mondays shelves have not been restocked and offers seem to be in decline! So moved to Tesco for main shop
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I shop at Waitrose - no muzak, customer announcements or similar - mainly for the good quality food, brought in from reliable sources. I buy no processed food - just fresh meat, fish, veg and fruit.
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We used to shop at Tesco's - as it is close to our house but have got fed up with the Tesco's current world domination! Their ethics (or lack of) re the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingshall Chicken saga is appalling. Living in Norfolk we have witnessed their bullying in buying sites for Tesco Express.
We now shop in Sainsburys, Lidl (when we can get there for their great cheap cheese!), and always buy our meat from the local butchers and fruit and veg from the farm shop.
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you've got to be careful when trying to get the best prices. I've found that there are good prices to be had at most places, but what you spend in petrol getting to them all out does the actual bargain price at each outlet.
I've found the best buys as follows;
Aldi- Cheap fruit/veg and tins.
Netto-excellent for cheap meat and lots of brand names (at cheap prices).
Asda-good for general low prices across board, but a lot of silly BOGOF offers, and good petrol prices.
Morrisons-great prices for fruit/veg-but don't expect it to last for more than a day or so.Good petrol prices too.
Lidl-great for tins, not much else.
Tesco-trys to compete with everyone, but only occasional offers can apply to bulk of customer base.
Farm shops-offer the best price eggs you're ever likely to find. The cost in most supermarkets is about 6xthe price you can get in local farm shops, but veg is better quality, though unfortunately dearer than the supermarkets.
As customers all we want is good quality and fair prices. When supermarkets wake up to this they would see that an extra couple of pence per product for a better quality is always going to be a winner. Customers want to spend less, but they don't want to drop the quality of their purchases. From lots of recent tv programmes a quality, yet cheaper product can be offered,but supermarkets don't seem to want to drop their profit margins.
If they did so they would get more customers, loyalty from existin customers, and a word of mouth that would be unrivalled in an ever increasingly challenging world.
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I have cast my vote. Now I would like to tell what happened to my Supermarket.
Tesco had always been my favourite store, until the choice of Brands were removed, a certain Whisky a good seller according to the manager was taken off the Shelf, But Sainsburys then stocked this brand, as I am there now also with my main monthly shopping, I buy other items like the Fresh Cream Meringues (only there), Tooth Paste not now available at any other Super Market.
Walker Crisps tell me their Tomarto Flavoured Crisps are only “now marketed in Scotland”. Which now takes me to my local Asda store in Wirral for the crisps which I have found! and their specialist I000 island dip, and other shopping like clothes.
During that month I will go to Somerfield for that odd items, but mainly their Creamy Coleslaw, which had a better taste than M&S or anywhere else.
The cost of my monthly shopping is then split in three, Asda taking the less, all the Supermarkets are directly in line from the City Centre of Tesco by car.
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I started to use Lidl about a year ago - initially not impressed with poor fresh fruit and vag, but my store [Malvern] has really improved since in this respect. All other ranges are very good - be brave and try something unfamiliar and any doubts will be removed! Special offers are brilliant - but don't hang about making your mind up or they will have gone! Lidl clearly invest in products and their people rather than fancy presentations and point of sale displays - good luck to them I say!
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I agree with nayfaith (@ 8.06pm, 2nd Feb) and furiousshelley (8.09pm, 2nd Feb). I used to shop in Tesco, until we moved closer to stores of Asda, Lidl and Aldi. We were amazed at how much cheaper everything was. Yes, Lidl is cheap but not just in price. There is also very little variety. My main shop is in Asda; especially keeping my eyes peeled for BOGOF's, 2 for 3 offers, etc. Otherwise we buy most frozen foods from Iceland and purchase the occasional items from our local Somerfield, but only after seeing offers in leaflets distributed with our local free paper. Despite their best efforts to get you in the door, I always only buy the item(s) I go in for, mainly because that's all I can afford which is mainly processed rubbish because slim wallets don't cover the fresh produce prices.
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I have not shopped in a supermarket for nearly 2 years for the following reasons...They are too powerful and we are too reliant on them.The amount of packaging on produce is an obcenity. The monopoly of pricing on local farmers is unfair and unjust. They are simply just too powerful.Local butchers and greeengrocers are much better value for money and once they have disappeared they will never return. Patricia, Northants
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I changed the way I shopped several years ago after my husband retired early thro ill health.We had to make savings. So I began to shop mainly at Aldi and occasionally Lidl and Netto. The food bill halved! To make recent further savings during C.crunch time,I make a shopping list and stick to it (mostly!) The risk of impulse buying is greater at the main 4 supermarkets.I'm very happy with the cheaper shops. The only down side is the lack of product choice.
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Everything depends on where you live - some places are Tesco overkill, some Sainsbury and others Asda (Captive Markets).
I always found Tesco to be expensive. I tend to shop for BOGOFS/Promotions and what cheaper.
So for me it's Morrisons for quality meat/fish. Asda for some tins/jars (e.g. coffee/pet food/cereals) and sometimes Sainsburys.
They are all within my catchment area either commuting to/from work or lunchtime to get out of office. The reason I do not use local shops is due to time constraints or lack of storage for chilled/frozen products (they all close at 5 or 5:30 in the evening and I am still in work then.
I do not believe all the hype about a being cheaper than b, etc. Everything is bar coded, computerised, tracked and the stock systems know the sales patterns dialy/weekly and monthly. If stock is not shifting it goes on offer before use/sell by date. Everything is geared up for two or more people which means buying for one is more expensive.
I hate the odd/even pricing (9.99 is a tenner)and the continual changes in shops but know why the supermarkets do it - hoping you buy something where the product you want used to be.
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We should shop locally and buy good quality British food. I have not shopped at Lidl and Aldi - do they sell good quality Britsh produce? - if not don't shop there. We need to support our local British farmers and local shops who need us in this current "credit crunch". Buy Local and buy British!
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I have just completed the watchdog online survey re: supermarket usage in uk. I am from northern ireland but in the question about where you live there was no 'northern ireland' box to tick. Do we not exist?? If BBC shows the programme in NI then they should recognise their viewers there. I know this is an issue that infuriates loads of ppl in NI. We are treated like second class citizens like insurance companies saying 'not available in northern ireland and weightwatchers giving free membership to all in gb but not in NI. Not to mention companies such as aldi, morrisons, waitrose don't even come here. It makes me mad!!!!
[Note from Watchdog team: Thank you for your comment. We're very sorry about that mistake - which was very quickly corrected - and we're investigating how this happened. If you'd still like to take part, you can do so by clicking on this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/quest/index.shtml]
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There is a lot of snobery about which supermarket you use. I have a Tesco 5 minutes from my home but since Aldi have opened a new store about 10 miles from my home I go there. The store is light and a pleasure to shop in. The range of food is good and they have an extensive range of low fat foods. To make ot worth while the cost of travelling I try to do about 3 weeks shopping at a time.
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Supermarkets are great! I remember when I was young that we could hardly get any stuff in stores and it all seemed canned! There's more fresh food and choice now than ever - I don't understand what everyone's complaining about! Anyway, my fav is Morrisons, I discovered it for myself last year and think the meat, fish and bakery is v. good as are the deals.
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I think thesupermarkets survey was terrible. It didn't give me the opportunity to say what I really feel. I would much rather use the Co op as it is ethical and British, but they don't always have the choice that I want. I do my day to day shopping there but go to Morrison or Adsa or Tesco for a big shop, depending on which is giving the best deals. The £20 refund from Morrisons before Christmas certainly pulled me in.
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Do shop around but my choice locally is limited.
On-line survey did not enable multiple choice of supermarket for people like myself who do not do a "main" weekly grocery purchase.
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I do the shopping every Saturday (early) at the following Supermarkets
Sainsburys, Aldi, Netto and Iceland., I used to just use one but as sad as I am I find a far wider choice and far more value for money using more than one Supermarket, and I hate to admit it but as a middle aged man I enjoy doing the food shopping, perhaps because I used to be a chef and I know exactly what I am looking for because I plan the family weeks meals (and I do not buy ready meals)
A lot of people would benefit if they learned to cook properly !
I can feed my family of four for a fiver, buy a shoulder of lamb, bone it out, put in the slow cooker with root veg, bay leaf and fresh rosemary, switch on, go to work and return home with a lovely home made meal !
Last comment, the lady featured in last nights programme saying how she would never use Aldi again, it may help before saying silly things like that to go home and start using their products and find out just what good quality it is, I rate Aldi highly for quality, choice and customer service
Thanks
Mr A Foster, Sheffield
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I shop at Aldi and Asda, regularly, every week. I buy some products in Aldi ie bread, cakes,and veg because they are often cheaper and good quality. Asda is good for frozen products, but I have noticed that they have steadily increased the prices of the value range, for example tomato ketchup, has shot up from 23p to 43p, in a few weeks, and listening to the comments in the shop from other customers, I am not the only one who has noticed, or they have taken some products off sale altogether.
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As an empolyee of a supplier to all of the top four it always pains me when they are interviewed on TV or Radio and they make out that they are trying to meet the consumers demands by cutting cost's.... what they mean is that they are demanding better terms from suppliers and thoughs that dont conform find there products delisted from the stores. the suppliers have to reduce there margins whilst the big 4 maintain theres its no wonder small businesses are going bust............
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I shop mainly at Tesco, the prices are reasonable through rising and I find the staff helpful and friendly a real plus as I'm in a chair. I used to do heavy bulk shopping on the internet at Iceland until they closed down their internet shopping. Don't use Tesco internet as I have to spend too much but there is parking outside. even if it is patrolled by 'jobsworths'. Frightened to use disabled parking as forgot ticket date once and received a £40 fine.
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As we live in very rural Wales, we have no access to Tesco, Asda or Sainsbury let alone Waitrose or M&S. We have had to do with the Co-op and Morrisons for years. When Safeway was in trouble, everybody hoped we would get a decent supermarket to take Safeway over. Unfortunately, Morrisons got the place. It is a depressing place to shop. Everything is crammed in with lots of extra racks blocking the passages. Shelves are not stocked up properly, so staple items are never available when you need them. Try buying castor sugar, sultanas etc. If you try and use ingredients which you always used to be able to get, they have disappeared from the range. When Aldi opened, I went there and was very pleasantly surprised about the quality of their products. I like the continental influence and buy lots of their sliced meats. The staff are extremely pleasant and will do anything for you. The thing you have to get used to is that the basic range is limited, but every week they have special offers and a variety of very good quality non-food items. You have to adapt your shopping by checking out each week what new items have come in. Our star buys have been a kitchen tap with shower attachment, several very good saucepans and frying pans, a under cupboard light fitting. I specially like their 'foreign' range of products like chinese, mexican, italian etc.
I now use Aldi all the time and only things I cannot get there are bought at Morrisons. It is very noticeable that Aldi has become much busier and clientele are switching over.
I do use local shops, but apart from 1 vegetable stall (which I don't need because we grow our own) and plenty of butchers (have my own meat) there is really only 1 shop which I use regularly and that is our fishmonger. He has excellent fresh fish.
Processed food is always dearer than freshly cooked food. I can feed 4 people healthily for under £5.00 with a huge variety of dishes. You don't need expensive cuts of meat or expensive vegetables. Each Sunday roast makes another couple of meals, leftover meat can be made into a dish and then the carcass or bones made into a meal soup. With Aldi selling their vegetables on a 49 pence offer, use those as they choose a different range regularly.
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shop local, why drive specifically to a massive out of town store when we can buy most of what need during our normal day out and about - means we buy less, throw away less and plan meals better. come on, it's not that difficult. i go to my local Co-op on my way home from work and it's great!
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We used to shop at Tescos but whilst trying to cut down on cost decided to try their value range which was absolutely awful. Friends told us about Aldi and their good value wines so we thought we would give it a go and are completely converted. Also staff are fantastic and you certainly get through the check out system very quickly!! We love all the continential and deli type food and their bargain tools and special offers - it is like going into a different shop every week because of the fresh offers. Cannot recommend them enough, if you have never tried them just go with an open mind
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It all depends on what you want. Locally I have the option of 5 of the main contenders. I shop at all of them at one time or another.
For quality - Waitrose and M&S
For customer service - Waitrose
For convenience (nearest) - Tesco
Cheapest - Lidel, but furthest away.
Possibly best price / quality compromise - Sainsbury's
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On reading the other comments, I cannot believe nobody has mentioned Morrisons! I can only suggest that these people have never been round one of their stores. With me it is a case of baskets round every other supermarket BUT impossible at Morisons where everything is BOGOF (everyday goods NOT something you don't want) or discounted, still, more room for me maybe.
Also a look in my fridge and freezer can tell you whether I have been to Morrisons or not. Full if I have, half empty if I haven't.
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Over the past three months I have changed my shopping habits due to price increases in what I consider to be a staple item in my trolley - dog food. I use 18 large cans a week. Before Xmas, Tesco was charging 70p per tin. Early Jan it had gone up overnight to 90p. Asda soon followed suit with a similar increase. Morrisons had already increased theirs from 72p to 87p before Xmas. This Sunday it was £1.05. I now buy it at Lidl. 87p AND it has a ring pull. Not the only item I have a problem with but it irks me the most. I don't buy the premium brand, just their own brand. (And why is Tesco putting up the price of petrol every week?)
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We currently shop at Tesco both online and at Tesco express. The online shop can be problematic in that deliveries have of late failed to arrive sometimes without warning.Also, if the shopping does not arrive they still charge, but refund three days later. Last nights shopping was cancelled due to the snow etc, so I had to drive to the main store to do the shopping. On checking my online account it was posted as delivered, hence we will be charged. In this regard the system is open to abuse. It would be better if as per going to the store, that you charged when it is signed for.
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I am surprised at how certain supermarkets are categorised in the media and also in this debate. Lidl is not just a discounting supermarket - it sells some high quality, 'continental' items at very good prices, especially around seasonal events such as Christmas, Easter etc.
We must be a family out of the ordinary as we have never done our shopping all in one place - and not just to gain value, but to gain better quality - so we'll hit them all in our town (Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Lidl, Netto).
Lidl, for example, have consistently procured tomatoes that taste of tomatoes! The others provide fancy packaging (wasteful!) for even basic salad tomatoes but the fruit tastes of either nothing or fish!
We shouldn't just be voting with our feet because of the credit crunch - we should be voting with our feet for food that tastes as it should, as locally sourced as possible, with minimal (if any) packaging. Only then might prices be achieved that so many people on this blog feel are currently beyond them.
Quick tip: for those on a budget wishing to buy their 5-a-day, check out your local markets for end-of-day sales of fresh produce. Also, check your local papers for farmers' markets - their products taste great and last longer. Finally, don't go to a supermarket to buy what you want, shop around for what is IN SEASON and thus a fair price, then decide what to cook with it!
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i did the watchdog supermarket survey, but not very accurate for us as i do big shop every 4 weeks
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I cannot understand why Lidl has to make shopping at my local store so difficult. Their is no space after the till for your purchases priop to packing. I find it really stressful trying to get everything packed before they fall off the end. Most people seem to put things back in their trolley and pack them later. It feels like their service ends as soon as they have taken your money. Also they do not provide hand baskets and I only ever pop in to pick up their special offers, particularly the half price fruit and veg. If the experience at the tills wasn't so stressful I would consider doing more of my shopping there as it is cheaper for a lot of things and has some interesting looking items.
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I shop at Waitrose because they support local produce where possible, as well as using small UK producers and I believe that they are ethical and treat their employees fairly. The price on the shelves is only one factor to take into account when shopping. Of the bigger supermarkets I would always choose Sainsburys over Tescos because Tescos have such an aggressive approach to opening new stores, often in unsuitable locations or really close to another Tescos so it cuts down choice.
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Like most other shoppers and consumers I have regularly used supermarkets for the convenience of getting my car adjacent to where I shop, therefore needlessly adding to our ever increasing polluted atmosphere. As the credit crunch bites home I now find myself looking at reducing my outgoings both on essential and non essential items of expenditure. Recently I have discovered that the Local Markets are as convenient, the atmosphere considerably better with the banter between stallholders etc. The service is more personal and specifically has I have now become a regular so the both the Butcher s and the Greengrocers know my preferences. The quality is fresher as the greengrocer is constantly bringing fresh products daily, unlike the Supermarkets who buy in bulk and send it to local areas from distribution points, hence why most the products are stored for display in refrigerated counters to stop it deteriorating further. Through personal conversation the Butcher knows how many people are in my family and provides me with delicious meat to fit the size of my family. Unlike the Supermarket who predetermine the meat to display, the majority of the time prepared out of public view so the meat is not observed being prepared and is then displayed in excess packaging and overpriced.
Admittedly there are still reasons to visit the Supermarket for non food items, but even these can be procured from town centre stores at similar costs or even cheaper.
Even the Bakers, Cooked meats and florists are better in the Local Market., all of which carry less packaging than the Supermarkets and therefore add to the sustainability of the Country. A Majority of the traders are local residents and are also supporting the local economy of our Town. So to beat the credit I suggest we consider shopping local and supporting our local stores.
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I used to use various supermarkets that were fairly near me, but some years ago a new Tesco opened closer to me so I decided to become a dedicated Tesco shopper, got the Clubcard etc and generally we have had a good relationship.
The store has got bigger over the years and can be too crowded, but I am now a regular online customer which I find in the main works very well.
Things have changed in that I no longer have children resident but still use Tesco online for the run of the mill stuff plus food for midweek etc (we both work still), but as a rather good farm shop has opened not so far away we use that at weekends for locally produced food which we believe is of a better quality.
If I had a choice of supermarkets I would probably go for Waitrose, but we do not have one near us and I wouldn't want to shop online to somewhere I can't visit.
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I believe than none of the supermarkets truely act ethically. Packaging, poor treatment of farmers and farm animals and neglect of glaring environmental issues. When confronted they display a level of arrogance which betrays their disregard for anyone other than their shareholders, see Tesco's disregard of the sensible approach from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall or our local Tesco's daily insistance (despite local pleas)on parking delivery trucks on double yellow lines outside the store. Shop local especially for bread and fruit and veg. It beats the supermarkets in every respect and the shareholder is likely to be your neighbour, not some hedgefund monster.
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The watchdog survey took almost no account of the ethical decisions made by shoppers. A lost opportunity I believe as more of us, rich or poor make our shopping decisions on this basis.
[Note from Watchdog team: Hello Dollyshock. Thank you for your comment. Ethical decisions are indeed a key factor for many people when shopping, so we made sure to include them in the vote. It will be interesting to see how many people voted for each option when the results come through next week. We will analyse the results and share them in the programme on Monday 23 February. Plus, we will publish a more detailed report on the website. Thanks again for your comment. Best wishes, Zoe Behagg - Web Producer.]
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Second time trying to add - clicked on add and it deleated!
We shop at many places, and no real space in questionnaire for that. Our "usual" supermarket is sainsburys but we get all fruit and veg delivered by Able & Cole. We also have occasional shops at occado, Waitrose and Lidl. If we had unlimited budget we'd always do Waitrose - its a lovely atmosphere and the self scanning and FREE hessian bags are fantastic, but its a bit out the way and is a little dearer than sainsburys. If we had less money we'd shop at Lidl (new to our area) as it has good quality at excellent prices, and the staff are still friendly. I would have liked a box to tick to say if there are supermarkets i avoid, and why, as there are- i feel that 2 places (Tesco and ASda) have overstepped my ethical boundaries. I know some people would say "Its alright for you , you can afford that choice", but as I said , if money got tighter, it would be Lidl, who are still ethical. If we had an Aldi I'd go there too.
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Oh, and I also go to the farmers market - to "buy local" - but its only once a month. Can't shop at butchers etc, closed at the times when I'm not at work!
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The best supermarket I've found is the original one, our local market!!!
The fresh produce is definatley cheaper than any of the so called "supermarkets" and it hasn't travelled around the country in a fridge for 2 weeks before being put on the shelf wrapped in cling film!
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we all go to asda to do our shopping, i think it is a heartless faceless company with only mony in mind!!!!! the shop i prefere is tesco, i don't know why is's probably the great food and deals. i think also they have great customer service and advice.
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I used to shop religously in Tesco, for everything you could possibly think off as I loved getting the extra clubcard points and converting them to deals to give my family a little extra. However, on the whole, the 'bonus' points you used to get on items such as nappies and wipes have now stopped, hence this major incentive has now been removed.
Prices have also creeped up and quality has fallen. I am not happy with Tesco at all so swapped to Asda. Although I find the stores a little more 'basic' the cheaper prices more than make up for the lack of tesco 'frills'. Also will pop into Aldi and Lidl for their offers.
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i live in Chesterfield in Derbyshire we have three Tescos (a main one an express and a metro) two Liddles, a Morrisons, a Sainsburys,a Netto & two freezer stores (a Farmfoods and an Iceland). We need more choice!! Netto and Liddle don't provide a wide range of freezer goods i live alone and am currently unemployed so i need the Farmfoods and the Iceland for frozen ready meals we as a town have been petitioning for an asda for years but because this is a prodominantly Tescos town we havnt got a chance!
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Have recently switched from Tesco to a combination of Aldi and Morrisons and sometimes even add Asda as a third. Before Christmas Morrisons offered a buy one get one free on Roses chocs. 2 for £4. Asda also did a BOGOF for the same chocs. The price? at 2 for £5! Sainsbury's did the a BOGOF for the same chocs. The price? 2 for £6. I find I have to shop around - returned to the old fashioned list of my weekly shop and note the prices using comparison websites and then keep to it!!
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I agree with others that the survey did not collect my views. I have dramatically changed my shopping habits in the last 3 years. I do shop at my local Sainsburys which is small and friendly. But I also shop regularly at Aldi which is very friendly and great quality (they do have british food NikkiJR). Both have good food labelling which is helpful as we have two coeliacs in our family. I have organic veg delivered by Riverford and buy organic meat at our local butcher. I do not do a 'weekly' shop I prefer to shop every other day. Many of my friends do the same, it is the best way to save money because you don't throw anything away. We are very lucky to have local shops and they are cheaper than the supermarkets. So try your local shops it does not take longer because they get to know what you like and have it ready when you walk in the door!
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Of all the supermarkets mentioned on the show you didnt mention Somerfield or Iceland, maybe I missed something but whilst I am not a great fan of the former I do shop at Iceland and I do find it meets my needs at a price I can afford. However, I try never to shop at Waitrose or Sainsbury and only use Tesco for my convenience not theirs and sparingly at that. Jsb
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We were confirmed family shoppers at Tesco. The reasons used to be good value for money and great customer focus. Then came up their questionable practices in the press, including their attitudes towards farmers, Tesco became more expensive with less choice, and finally and most telling the customer lost position as the main focus of Tesco. We now shop at Co-op and Sainsburys both of which we find customer focused organizations, and both of which offer convenience and good value for money. From one Scouser to another, take care Terry Leahy, you’re losing it. Don’t just rely on a hackneyed old loyalty card for customer service, they all have them now. You seriously need to retrain your staff concerning customer service and satisfaction.
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I (a man) do the cooking in our house, so I do the shopping. When a discount German Supermarket opened near us 6 months ago I began to shop there. I have checked out my bill many times by entering it at mysupermarket.com to get a similar bill from the big 4. It is 30% less than most and 50% less than the most expensive. We are foodies, we don't buy rubbish. What we get from the discounter is just as good as what we get elsewhere. You can't get everything there so the odd things are purchased from other local stores. My wife hates the atmosphere of the discount store. You can see where they are making savings with only 3 staff evident in a huge store, wheras there are probably 20 or more in a similar size store elswhere. The pallet system is untidy but keeps cost down. When I walk round for those odd luxury items I look at the shoppers and think "victims".
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Watchdog supermarket survey.
I have shopped at Sainsburys for years, but now do 1/3 of my shop at Aldi and 2/3 at Sainsburys. I remain satisfied with Sainsburys, but find Aldi amazing for value and interesing continental foods. I really like Aldi a lot, but they don't stock the full range of goods. No where on your survey was there anywhere to note this sort of preference, so I find it flawed.
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I have just filled in the questionaire and found myself disapointed at the assumption that I do all my shopping in a supermarket. I filled in a supermarket spend of "Less than £50" it is more like less than £20 and that is baecause I actually do my shop in the local town on a trip that takes me to "the library, the greengrocer, the health food (and cheese) shop, the butcher and the florist" Milk is delivered by the local dairyman and when I go to the co-op it is to top up on those few things I can't get elsewhere. I also shop at Aldi as I like the unusual continental products and find it very very reasonable for treats. Even on the question about how I shop I had a choice between, supermarket internet or a mix". Please don't assume the whole world traipses round supermarkets for their weekly shop I am sure the results would be far more interesting and helpful if you were looking at the whole picture.
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I have shopped at Waitrose for quite a few years now. People always pass the comment that I must be rich to shop there. Not so. I find excellent quality at reasonable prices, a lot of which match Tesco. Plus their own brand is usually far superior to a named brand. The staff are always helpful and friendly and can usually help. The butcher and fishmonger are knowledgable and can recommend recipies. Always a pleasure to shop there.
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We use 3 supermarkets which include Lildl and Tesco but the main one is Brian Fords at Barnstaple station.Signs outside say 'Brian Fords Britain's Largest Independant Supermarket'. BUT this is owned by TESCO! There is no indication of it anywhere outside or in. It was sold to Tesco by the Ford family 5 years ago the fact only coming to light as a result of a planning application in 2008.
No Tesco branded goods are sold (hurrah) and most is locally sourced. Indeed we can often see the farms produce came from, from our cottage. An extensive range of regional produce is sold and prices are often well below Tesco prices (check the price of swedes). Traditional and local recipe items are available in the bakery as well as caterer's packs for larger quantities.
All sorts of goods are stocked including white and brown goods.Well worth a visit!
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Morrisons - I like to shop at Morrisons because I think they have a particularly good fish counter and also fruit and vegetables.
However, having said that I feel you need to be really careful with their special offers, for example today they had an offer of 2 Morrisons Chinese meals for £2.00. The price each was £1.99, this was in a big display cabinet, however in the same display cabinet were also meals priced at £2.69 (otherwise packing etc., was identical) it was only when I got to the check out that I realised that I didn't have the correct meals to qualify for the offer.
Also today there is a big display of seed, again saying 69p each or 4 for £2. Again I picked up 4 packets of seeds only to find out at the checkout that the offer was for Morrisons seeds only.
This is not the first time this has happenned.
I feel it is deliberate Morrisons policy to have these misleading signs around the store. I use 2 or 3 different Morrisons and it happens at them all, so much so that I now check my receipt before leaving the store.
I suggest you send somebody from the Watchdog team to Morrison to check out their special offers.
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I think the BOGOF offers are unfair to couples and people who live alone. I think this applies to most Pensioners.
It's fine if it is non perisable, but even then you need storage space.
I would much rather buy something at half price, perhaps one Suppermarket could have an offer where they charge only the cheapest unit price for one, to anybody able to show say a bus pass or something.
i.e. 1 loaf £ 1.60 but 2 for £2.00 would be £1 for just 1.
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I shop where I can get the cheapest food as I'm on a low budget eg: Lidl's, Netto, have also shopped at Asda looking for the "WHOOPS" yellow stickers! Can't afford to shop in places like Marks & Spencers I'de need a bank loan. Food has just gotten so expensive these days, the organic foods out of this world it's discusting.
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We regularly use Aldi to stock up on staple items. Cooked meats and cheeses in particular are of excellent quality. A "big shop" here generally costs £65-75 and will last us a fortnight. As I work in a town centre I can pop into Sainsburys and pick up fresh produce on the day it's needed rather than buying it a week in advance and eating when it's past it's best. I find that meat in the big 4 supermarkets is not as fresh and tasty as that available at farm shops. Supermarkets cash in on being a one stop shop for those who don't have the time to search for quality and value. I find their stance towards farmers and suppliers shocking and their offers ungenuine. Aldi is like shopping in a continental supermarket and as a previous correspondent mentioned the customer service is excellent. You can always spot a new Aldi customer because they cannot hide their excitement at the checkout!
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I shop in tesco cause i get my staff discount - but i keep an eye on other stores for their offers and if it is something i use regularly and the offer is good I go for it. The other problem I have is our local tesco is small and parking is a nightmare so I have to travel 20 miles to do a decent shop. So for quickness i will nip in to local asda or morrisons (some 8 miles away) to get basics to see me through till i do a next big shop.
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Waitrose all the way for me. The fruit and veg lasts more than a week. Waitrose also support British producers and lead the way in environmental and animal welfare issues. It is a bit of a myth that Waitrose is really expensive - it is actually comparable to Sainsburys. Customer service is second to none. Overall Waitrose is the best (and yes I've been to all the others) and more people should give it a try.
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I have just returned to the UK after spending a year away in South America. I had forgotten what the supermarkets were like here in the UK. One thing that has stood out to me since I've been back is that British shoppers need to change their attitude to supermarket shopping. I hear people complaining about there being 'nothing' in the supermarket, when you could quite easily buy everything you need to feed your family well. Also there seems to be an obsession with ready made meals, I've found that you can make far healthier and cheaper meals by buying and cooking all the ingredients, although it takes longer. Ready made meals are so unhealthy, and I long to be able to find a local greengrocer and butcher so I can buy quality food at a reasonable price, and know that it is not pumped full of chemicals and that a fair price has been paid for it. Try living in a lot more basic community and you appreciate food and the importance of mealtimes far more.
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Everybody here should read the book Tescopoly by Andrew Simms and find out just how completely unethical the major supermarkets are. Ridiculous buying power forcing suppliers into corners, showing a complete disregard for local planning law and generally tearing apart the social fabric of communities across the country by putting smaller shops out of business.
Convenience is the curse of the 21st century (perhaps the 20th too) People are too lazy to source good food and other products themselves so go to the supermarkets, pouring more money into the corporations and perpetuating the cycle of soulless living. Shop locally instead and support your local economy.
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I used to live on the continent and one of the equivelant too our big four over here was called colruyt. This is a real stack'em high concept which was great. Everything was so much cheaper and whilst there was less choice for certain things as a whole there was a good selection. I feel that england needs a shop of the same sort of stature as aldi and lidl are just too smaller shops too compete with the big four.
Maybe this concept doesnt work over here. Any Views?
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Hi what evidence is there that prices are coming down? When i vsited one of the big four a leading soft drink was being advertised as 2 for £2.60 when last week or so it was 2 for £2.50 - also lettuce / cucumbers have gone through the roof. Unless there is real reductions across the board I dont gree with the statement food is coming down in price its going the other way!
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I used to shop at morrisons then moved to Tesco because it was close to my workplace and it made sense to use it. I am now as a stage where I hate it. The quality has gone right down and the cost of lots of items has gone right up. I went into a new Tesco flagship store 3 days after it opened, popped a chilled salad tub in my basket then noticed it was past its sell by date. I reported it at the time. I didn't go back to that shop for 1 year when I picked up some popodoms - when I got them home I found they where over 1 month out of date! I have now vowed I will never go back to that Tesco branch. I popped into the branch next to work on Monday and got a pack of 3 storage containers. When I got home and opened them there were only 2 lids in the pack.It was the final straw for me. I will make to 5 mile journey after work and return to Morrisons. The have a fantastic butchery dept and will cut to order.
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I shop at Morrisons. The main reason is convenience. Morrisons is about half a mile away from us. The next nearest supermarket is a 20 minute drive away for us. I'd need to save a lot of money in the store to make up for the cost of the extra petrol & time.
Morrisons tend to have good offers, and they're no more confusing than any other supermarkets - of course similar items are stacked close to each other, so you have to read the offer tags.
We tend to buy fresh food instead of processed, because it's cheaper.
There are no decent local stores near us. The greengrocers recently closed because they would display goods until it was sold, even if half of it was mouldy!
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I happily shopped online at asda for a couple of years. Being paid monthly, it made sense for me to to one large shop a month and buy other bits and pieces as and when required.
Deliveries were always on time (within the 2hr timeslot I requested), sometimes earlier which was great until one evening it did not arrive at all!!
I called their customer service line and was told that they no longer delivered to my area as one of their drivers had been unloading his van when he had been attacked for the (few) bottles of alcohol in the back of his van!! Whilst I felt I could understand their concerns, I made the sensible suggestion that either alcohol should be removed entirely or possibly restrict this to daytime deliveries only if they wanted to show loyalty to customers but they took no notice...
They offered NO apology for not contacting me to say my order had been cancelled either.
They did advise that they had lost quite a lot of customers because they have restricted which areas they are happy to deliver to.
Obviously they would rather lose customers than take this more sensible option!!
NB: I live 1/2 a mile from an area with a postcode which seems to be have been deemed a more acceptable / desireable area to live... I say this as I know they still receives deliveries so I feel discriminated against in this way also!!
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hi as an employee of morrisons you can guess where i shop, in regards to the comments above out of 100 there was only 3 people who shopped at morrisons and to be honest i do not belive it as morrisons had the highest like for like sales to 2 years runing and sales are goin up weekly and with regards to comment 87 by BNorma this is not a problem with the store but customers not reading the offers properly and customers putting things back on the shelf in a differant place. i will admit that morrisons are not the best and we all have our problems but "fresh is best" and morrisons prepares most of its items instore unlike the other 3 which comes from a factory and make 2 to 3 days ago.
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When will people realise that M&S have created myths. Their brand was built on customer service, brithish goods, and quality.
Customer Service - They cannot even compete with the Big 4 supermarkets.
British Goods - They have dumped most of their non-food British suppliers.
Quality - Not at the prices they charge
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We shop at Asda for value and customer service. Also at Waitrose for the same, plus Waitrose don't have shareholders which enables them to pursue ethical food.
We stopped shopping at Tesco due to their alleged aggressive insertion of their small stores into high streets thus driving small local shops into alleged difficulties and closure?
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We're on a budget of £80 to feed five adults, which we easily stick to as we have found the cheapest foods from all the supermarkets in our town. We're lucky because here we have a Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Aldi and Farmfoods, as well as a very good local butcher and market.
We always shop at Morrisons and Aldi, which we have found to have the best prices, and get our fruits and veg from the market and most of our meat from the butcher.
I find that Tesco is way too big and the staff are very unfriendly and unhelpful, where as in Aldi the cashiers are very fast and helpful.
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After watching Hugh Fernley Whittingstall program to try to get Tesco's to speak to him about poulty conditions, and then Tescos shockingly asking him to pay £90,000 to have his motion heard by all the share holders, I am comitted to avoiding Tesco's store for as long as I can. I live half way between Tesco's and Sanisburys and will always be visiting Sainsburys.
Sainsubrys are far better on ethical produce, organic produce and so forth. Although they have a long way to go they are probably leading the pack. I would like to refill my ecover dishwashing and clothes washing liquid containers, I would like to buy picture frames from FSC wood, I would like to buy organic potatoes from Aberdeenshire. Sainsburys told me the local organic farmers cannot supply them in sufficient quantities. I'm sure this is nonsense, and even if it was true surley sainsburys have a big enough clout to change this. The only option for me that day in sainsburys was to buy organic potatoes from Israel. This is nonsense.
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Although I like some products in M and S I think Waitrose is the most pleasant supermarket to shop in and I miss having one nearby now that I have moved. The quality of their products and general ambience in the store is the best. I know others are cheaper but if you can avoid it whats the point of paying £1.00 for something you dislike eating when you can pay £1.50 and really enjoy it. One of the biggest pleasures in life is eating and enjoying food. The prices are higher because the product quality is higher and it is not motivated purely by greed. I agree with the comments on shopping locally as well and supporting your local shopkeepers whenever you can. I'm not looking forward to a future of having no highstreets with little shops, just one large store which is a chore to visit. I shop in Aldi a lot now too. The quality is good in general and the prices fair.
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We shop at Tesco's after finding Sainsbury's more expensive - but I don't like the Tesco shopping experience. Every week I find items that are either not identified on the shelf correctly or are in the wrong place, and also items (usually end of aisle 'specials') without any price labelling at all. During my last four shops I had to return to the Customer Service desk three times because of being charged the wrong price. Recently I have been keeping a check on prices as I think some items are increased to allow others to be marketed at a saving. For example we purchased a spray shower cleaner one month that went up by 45% the following month, then went back down again and then up again. This item was never sold at a 'discount' price, so I assume it was something that, because it's bought infrequently can have its' price changed without anyone noticing. How many other items have yo-yo prices to allow discounting elsewhere in the store? I think Tesco are an arrogant retailer who don't have much care for shoppers or suppliers alike. (By the way, I did pass my comments onto Tesco and I got a stock answer and £5 voucher, but nothing has changed in the store concerned.
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I do most of my shopping at the Co-op. The fresh fruit and veg is always fresh, ranges are generally good and I like the profit sharing idea of the 'divi'. The Co-op is aligning its prices with Somerfield, which were often cheaper, as a step in the take-over of this other large chain. I also think the Co-op presents a pretty good challenge to the 'Big four' by forcing them to consider ethical and Fair Trade retailing (which the Co-op largely pioneered in mainstream shopping). And I've just had a ballot paper inviting me to vote for other Co-op members who will govern the Co-op right up to national level. There's no consumer democracy with the other supermarkets. Given what has been happening to the economy as a result of companies and banks driven by shareholder greed, the Co-op with its emphasis on serving members and promoting human values seems a good alternative.
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We used to shop regularly at sainsburys until about 8 or 9 years ago.
Then Aldi opened, we tried it and shortly afterwards started using Aldi instead because it was much cheaper and the quality was just as good.
We tried lidl as well at the same time -and found that we liked it for some specific things but not for others eg.we feel/felt that cheese is well priced and reliable quality but we don't feel that the quality is as consistently high.
The aldi stores in our town are staffed with efficient, friendly, helpful staff -who get through queues really quickly.
Throughout this time we kept an eye out for offers at the major supermarkets -and visited them just for these items.
Within the last year we have found that the quality has gone up and the prices have gone down in asda - and now we do a lot of shopping there. We don't like the fact that it's very big and the queues can be long -and parking is inconvenient because it's at a shopping centre where there are many people wanting spaces - but we try to shop at off peak times to counter these problems.
We also use somerfield for offers - but stick to the offers because we find their normal prices for many things expensive.
Our preference would be to shop at aldi because of the consistently good service and quality but have stopped doing so for many items because they aren't as competitive on price.
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Supermarkets are tyring. Some very trying indeed. produce that is unripe, meat that is not of a sound origin, and a vast choice of things they want you to have due to their bottom line profit.
As a chef for over twenty years I am constantly astonished by the poor standards and lack of commitment to quality that is shown in these supermarkets. Not one single establishment can hold its head high and honestly say they are giving value for money. For me the definition of value for money is "fit for purpose". These giants of the food world can't offer value as they have to sacrifice quality for the sake of profit, therefore no quality means not fit for purpose.
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We are a retired couple who shop at Tesco mainly for convenience. Occasionally we get the chance of a lift to a Lidle which we like - but it is simply not convenient for us. Our village SPAR and Co-op are far too highly priced for us but we do have a free bus to our nearest Tesco Extra.
I have found that Tesco do not cater for the retired couple in that most of their "bargains" come in BOGOF packs or other multi-purchase options.
We occasionally buy lettuces and one small one would last us the week - only thing is that it comes in packs of 2! If we have a pack of 2 one always gets wasted! The same thing happens with their small pork pies - packs of 4!!!
Tesco also seem to have the habit of removing some of their "Value" lines from sale, but then, when they have a "price cutting" advert they bring them back at a higher price and bragging that they have cut prices whilst the opposite is actually true.
The relative cost of smaller quantities is also a point for complaint. I quote the example of their "Value" eggs - a pack of 15 for £1.50 (10p per egg) whilst their smaller packs of 6 cost 82p (almost 14p per egg - 40% more expensive) This difference can never be explained by increased amounts of packaging
One other thing that Tesco - and other supermarkets - could start is to provide seat for we ancient "wrinklies" as we stagger round their every increasing domains. We do have our physical limits and I wish they would realise this. Do they realise that we have to use their trolleys as leaning posts?
Our local Tesco has a very small number of small shallow trolleys which are perfect for us as we do not have to reach down to the bottom of a deep trolley to get out our few purchases.
One ideal solution would be the use of a deep basket on wheels which is now common in continental supermarkets which we can push around the store, but then there is the problem of lifting the basket or to empty the basket when we get to the check out.
Talking of checkouts - I find that in many cases the staff are very helpful with offering to pack but I wish that the stores would give some of them a scintilla of intelligence so they do not pack my eggs underneath my potatoes!!
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We shop in Lidl and Waitrose.
We have learned to be selective in Lidl and there are many things we find good quality and value however other things we prefer to get elsewhere and have found all the staff at Waitrose in Rushden Northants
to be friendly and very helpful. I occasionally use Tesco or Asda but they cannot compete in quality and helpfulness.
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We shop at Sainsburys and changed (from Tesco) a few years why? Tesco was always full with parents with a flock of (uncontrolled) children running around. We went to Sainsburys as a one off and have stayed there ever since - it's so much more civilised!
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I used to shop at one store and one store only. Tesco. I even used to say that Tesco would be the only Supermarket in Heaven, that was until I watched Hugh Fernley Whittingstall's program on animal welfare and Jamie Olivers program on misleading labelling. It was a real eye-opener and since watching the shows have not been back to Tesco even once, and as far as I am concerned, we wont be returning.
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On a slightly different non food note, i use Lidl and Aldi for nearly all my electrical items, eg kettle , toaster, dvd recorder, computer and screen, and many other small items.When compared with the equivalent items anywhere else, yet alone the other supermarkets, the quality, price and perhaps more important of all for me is the 3 year no quibble warranty on EVERY eletrical they sell from the biggest to the smallest. Thats worth money in itself.
And yes i am a covert to both these supermarkets on the food side...altho it does require glasses to read all the small print on the sides of tins and some other products.
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Where i live we have an Asda and a Morrisons; although they are on my doorstep i find myself driving 10 miles to the next town to shop in Sainsburys. If i drove 30 miles in the other direction i would shop at Waitrose. We are not a high income family but i believe that Sainsburys and Waitrose offer far superior quality than my two local stores as well as providing more local produce and paying farmers and suppliers a more realistic price for their goods. As for Tescos...i wouldn't shop there if it was the last supermarket on earth!!
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I used to shop at Tesco as it is nearest and I don't have a car. I now have a baby. I went to Morisons in the Gyle Centre, Edinburgh one day and the baby facilities were so good I decided to shop there from then on. The crucial thing was a place to leave the pram as Morisons has trolly lockers as well as proper baby seats on the trollies. I also found the shopping cost less and it is only a bit further to walk.
Libby (new mum), Edinburgh
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I shop at Sainsbury's because it is the nearest large supermarket. I used to shop at Tesco before I moved. I would like to shop at Aldi or Lidl for basics because they provide good value for money but the nearest one is in the next city which makes it uneconomical. I would go to Sainsbury/Tesco for particular items. Mostly I despair about environmental issues and supermarkets - packaging and food miles. BUT after seeing how Tesco treated Hugh F-W I am going to avoid Tesco in future.
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out of all the supermarkets the one i would definatly not use is tesco. living in a small market town in suffolk i have seen just how manipulitive they are. since arriving in the town several small buisnesess have closed.as they are not on the outskirts they initially arrowed you to park as long as you needed now that has been cut to 3 hours.there are new units being built close to the store effectiffly moving the town centre away from the smaller independant stores and you can bet your life non of these will be small stores. i just hope other market towns stick to their guns and don't let tesco take over!
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I hate Tesco!! I have changed to Sainsbury's, who are probably almost as bad but appear to be not so aggressive. The nearest
Sainsbury store is further from my home than Tesco but Sainsbury's in store customer service is excellent.
I do not like the social, health and small business damage caused by supermarkets in general.
Snagap
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I just took the online survey regarding supermarkets and found the questions a bit unsatisfactory. The survey appears to pigeonhole us all as avid supermarket shoppers. I try to first buy at local shops such as the butcher or at markets and only then shop at a supermarket. I find that most supermarkets are pretty much of a muchness so I differentiate based on how well they treat their suppliers and the corporate ethics. How do they add to local resilience? I whole-heartedly agree with the first comment made. Buy local that way the money stays local as well and is not sent to some 'corporate office' in a faraway tax haven.
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All the major supermarkets are out to squeeze the customer - if a relatively small chain like Iceland can sell 4 pints of milk for £1.25 and sugar for 75p why are the big four supermarkets charging £1.50+ and 83p+?
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I shop at co-op as often as possible as I like to support their ethical stance regarding non-animal testing of own brands, animal welfare in general and of course their degradable plastic bag policy (not that I take them as I use my own shopping bag!). The place I avoid is Tesco as they are the pits as far as I am concerned.
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I shop at Asda, and have done since we moved into our first home. One - the quality of its own brands are far superior to that of other supermarkets, and two - I have had bad experiences with Sainsbury's and Morrisons fresh food. Whats more, Tesco disgust me with their attitude to animal welfare, brought to light over the last 2 years in documentaries shown on TV. I will never cross their threshold again!!
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I used to shop regularly at Sainsburys, but since buying a holiday home on the Isle of Sheppey i found the only large supermarket in the area was Tesco's. So i started shopping there both at home and on the island to save the points up that they offered. BUT! after watching the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingshall programme i was appalled enough to stop buying from them.
I recieved a well timed leaflet through the post from sainsburys explaining their Freedom Food ranges,, that they are the first to stop selling eggs that come from caged birds and that they sell British meat clearly labelled i have returned to them as my main supermarket.
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We do most of our shopping at Lidl, some at Aldi and a little bit at Sainsbury's. We find the quality of food to be very high at L and A and we only use S for a few items. We have no complaints about the stores or the staff.
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well i am shocked by some of the comments here
comment number 4 saying they cannot afford nutritious food, 2 things, 1 if you can't afford to feed children don't have them, 2 everybody knows it's cheaper to cook fresh food than buy processed, truth is most people cannot be bothered!!
and as for being deppressed stop trying to get the sypathy vote and buy a cook book
next, people banging on about tescos, can't you see once they have shut down any compertion around them the prices will start to rise, more fools you for supporting this cancer on the high street
and as for saving money shopping around, don't make me laugh.
people get into their people carriers with 1 child, drive 5 miles, pay for parking, to save 10p on a can of beans!!!
what a great saving, forget about the £7.00 it cost to get there and park.
one thing is clear, if joe public dose not support the independant retailers on the high street then before long we can all go for a hair cut, weekly shop, see the doctor, and take the cat to vets under one big roof!!!
still it will give you more time in your ever so busy lifes
ps i do shop local, support independants, cook proper food, and still have time to post comments on here!!
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Local farmers, producers and growers are treated very unfairly by some supermarkets. I do not feel comfortable paying a few pence less but knowing that a local producer of tomatoes or milk for instance has been paid far less than is fair. I would love to see the shelves stacked with good English apples and locally grown produce and want my custom to go to the supermarkets who support this too.
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While I do use most of the supermarkets (at there own game, IE BOG offs when needed), I also have locally a very good butcher who range of meats that are available are better quality than all of the supermarkets available, including so called 'Premium' products that can be very expensive. A lot of the meats available in the supermarket are very bland in taste. The answer is buy locally, good for you and the local economy. The only supemarket I like is ASDA.
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We are fortunate to live within 3 miles of all major supermarkets, with Waitrose being the exception. Being in the Nort West, I love Booths, and buy all my meat, beer and wine there. They also have an excellent selection of locally produced vegetables, but the basics are more expensive. I also like Aldi and Lidl, especially their continental meats and jams. Tesco I am visiting less and less. Prices have skyrocketed, and I just don't enjoy it.
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Why is everyone saying supermarkets are cutting their prices? We have always shopped with Tesco, but over the past six months we have seen the prices of some of our products rocket by upto 50% to 100%. We originally brought mainly Tesco branded products but have now found ourselves purchasing almost everything 'Tesco Value'. As we thought Tesco was charging to high, we decided to swap to Asda. We have found the prices for Asda smartprice products allmost exactly the same as Tesco value. I understand that the price of food will always rise, but not at such as huge level within a very short amount of time.
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My preferred supermarket is Waitrose as it's stock is good quality and it's own ranges are very good and priced sensibly. I cannot however afford to do my main shop there all the time and so do use Tesco. I find Tesco very irritating in that it is the opposite of Waitrose. It does stock, envionmentally friendly and 'safe' products but the range is small and inconsisant. They appear to make no effort to produce their own ranges of child/adult friendly sls/paraben free products which Waitrose are superb at and the brands they do have are expensive. I also object to their seeming desire to make Tesco a 'one stop shop' for every product under the sun and therefore marginalising smaller retailers.
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I prefer to shop where there is no "noise polution" Most Supermarkets have this constant loudspeaker system going. The only two shops that manage without this [ that I visit ] are M@S and Sainsbury.The rest want to "Get a Grip", and find a better way to contact staff.
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I shop daily at somerfield but I do love Asda as it has everything you need under one roof.
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Asda!
Go the right time you get deals of today fresh bread. Fit for a few days. If your using a loaf quick then brill!
Can get children clothes for small amounts.
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(quote)furiousshelley no matter where i shop, i cannot afford to buy proper nutritious food for my family for a week. everything is so expensive i have gone back to having to buy processed food as the main bulk of my shopping. i feel quite depressed about it as i want my 3 young children to be healthy .(/quote)
I cant see how you can claim this!
£1+ each processed meal or the same £3 as you said 3 kids on ??
For £3 you could do a mix of things. Spag boll.
Fish-Pots-parcley sauce.
The things i find a problem is everyday things that people need Sugar-Bread-Milk have seen a de-etion price increase.
We are paying for what is not sold elsewhere , Untill Mr G Brown Gets a grip and learns how to become a polition for tomorow not today then this will get worse. Then with " prices rising, coal based fuel and 3 run ways in Heathrow " Instead of getting tougher on environmental issues "even what is bought in shops" Packaging should be re looked at
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I have always shopped at Sainsburys who are by far the best. I have tried Aldi, Lidl and Tesco and yes, they may be cheaper, but only if you buy their own brands, which, quite frankly, are rubbish. Whereas I can buy Sainsbury's own brand products and they are great. So shopping in the cheaper supermarkets is a false economy as you need to buy the 'named' brands for it to be edible! Go Mr Sainsbury.
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Wherever you seem to shop these days I find it incredible that in today's world of "going green and saving the plant" and us all being encouraged to recycle can someone please explain why everything is not produced in plastic, which is not degradeable? A few years ago all bottles were glass, far more sensible and better for the environment - come on Supermarkets ditch the plastic and make a stand for glass!!
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I have always done 100% of my grocery/household shopping at Tesco's. Since retiring from full time employment a year ago I have had the time to shop at my local shops and am truly amazed at how much cheaper groceries are compared to Tesco's. Here are just a few examples:
TESCO price first Local shops in brackets
Kingsmill bread £1.22(99p)
Bounty kitchen rolls(2) £1.64 (97p)
1kg sugar 93p (75p)
2ltr milk £1.53 (1.25)
Heinz beans 63p (49p)
Activia yoghurt(4) £1.58 (£1.00)
Tesco's slogan is "Every little helps". It certainly does, which is why now I do less than 50% of my shopping at Tescos.Although I refer to Tesco's I have no reason to believe that the remainder of the Big Four are any different
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As an expat living in the Netherlands, I had to comment to let you guys in the UK know just how good you have it with so many quality supermarkets. You are blessed with choice, excellent value for money, quality goods and 24 hour convenience. Over here we have the main chain which is ridculously expensive, terrible quality and choice akin to what I imagine a communist era foodmarket in the former Soviet Union would be like. The other lesser chains seem to offer at least some choice - oh how I wish one of the UK chains would branch out here like some of them have in other European Countries. Tesco are you listening?
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Perhaps places like Tescos should 'wake up and smell the coffee'! the reason people like shopping at places like Waitrose and Sainsburys is a lot to do with the staff. A lot of Tescos staff are awful. Dont know how to treat customers, chew gum, chat to their mates etc etc etc...
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the thing that annoys me is that last september or oct 08 , i paid around £1.19 for asda 500g of coffee , it jumped up to £1.57 in a short time, now they have it on rollback for about £1.37, its conning us into thinking were paying less than last year, what happened to the prices going back down, as the price of transport has come down due to petrol coming down in price, this has happened with lots of the prices in store, the multiples saying costs were rising , but havent dropped them again as fuel prices dropped, where do they justify the higher prices now, they can say the prices are less than october last year but not in july when this recession was not even on the news or anything
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