Which, the consumer magazine, asked 11,000 members in October 2011 what they thought about supermarkets and the results are now in. The overall winner by a considerable margin was Waitrose. This is the third year running that they have achieved this – congratulations to Waitrose.
But wait a minute, how can this be? In these harsh financial times we keep hearing that shoppers are watching every penny and going out of their way to get the lowest prices.  So how does Waitrose manage to get such a high rating when they are not very often the cheapest and they have less offers than their main competitors? Look a little deeper into the survey results and see what Waitrose scored for “Value and special offers”. They got three stars.  That’s equal to three of their main competitors and better than the other three main competitors.  The three star rating results from shoppers at Waitrose having a definition of “value” that goes beyond simply translating it to “lowest price”.  They take into account a range of other factors too.
Of course price is an important factor for shoppers everywhere but as this survey illustrates overall value is much more important. For many retailers 2011 was the year of “Lowest price”.  2012 will be the year of “Best value” as defined by customers.  Some retailers might even ask Waitrose for a few tips.