Top of the shops

John Lewis and Waitrose are Britain’s favourite high-street shops, Aldi and Lidl are gaining favour, but some familiar names including Currys, Woolworths and WH Smith are poorly rated, according to Which? members.

The consumer organisation’s customer satisfaction survey of 50 of the UK’s best-known retailers gave some surprising results: discount stores Aldi (with an overall satisfaction score of 66) and Lidl (64) scored higher than the big four supermarkets - Sainsbury’s (61), Tesco (58), Asda (58) and Morrisons (56).

John Lewis (81) and Waitrose (80) take the gold and silver medals, head and shoulders above the rest. “John Lewis isn’t perfect, but very close to it”, said one reader. Marks & Spencer (70) came third; Waterstone’s (68) came in joint fourth with Body Shop and independent electrical specialists.

However, with the exception of John Lewis, the top six stumble on pricing - Aldi and Lidl’s strong suit. More than three quarters of those surveyed rate pricing as very good or excellent at these low-cost stores.

At the bottom of the table is JJB Sports (44), which got one of the lowest customer service ratings – just nine per cent judged it to be excellent or very good. One customer described a typical visit: “shops were crowded and messy, clothes on the floor and staff unknowledgeable about stock and its location.”

Bad news too for the Dixons Stores Group, parent company of PC World (48), Currys (47) and Currys.digital, formerly Dixons (45). All three shops come in the bottom eight of the survey. Other familiar names at the wrong end of the table include WH Smith (51), Woolworths (48), MFI (48) and Somerfield (46).

Neil Fowler, editor, Which?, said: “There are no surprises at the top of the table as John Lewis and Waitrose continue to excel. But there’s a minor retail revolution going on – Aldi and Lidl score well above giants such as Tesco, Boots and WH Smith. Customers appear to rate the low-price, no-frills approach.

“It’s interesting to see some familiar names are at the bottom of the table. Longevity counts for nothing if your customers aren’t satisfied.”