Waitrose Tops Study For Customer Loyalty While Tesco Drops

New research has shown how customer loyalty has dropped significantly for supermarket chain Tesco (from 1st position down to 6th), while Waitrose has had a huge rise in satisfied and loyal customers, now taking top spot.
Brand market research consultancy, Millward Brown has carried out an analysis of consumer brand loyalty for the top 10 grocery stores in the UK . This is achieved by the Millward Brown BrandZ brand equity study, which monitors the opinions of 400 UK adults who buy groceries for their households and then quantifies and diagnoses the strengths and weaknesses of the top 10 UK grocery store brands.
The study shows M&S ranking strongly in second place followed closely by Sainsbury’s . Aldi and Lidl also score higher than Tesco and Asda in the customer loyalty ranking for the first time, taking 4th and 5th place respectively.
However this year’s study highlights that Tesco still outperforms all other grocery stores on having a wider range of goods (59 per cent compared to nearest competitor Sainsbury’s 38 per cent) and setting trends.
Global brand director at Millward Brown, Peter Walshe said, “Waitrose is maintaining a unique identity that appeals to consumers, while M&S is recovering strongly and Sainsbury’s is getting its confidence back.
“The huge decline in customer loyalty for Tesco, at a faster rate than any other British grocery store, is an indication that many consumers are acting on a growing desire to buy quality products whatever the price,” Mr Walshe continued.

Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Company, also scored highest (70 per cent) as the retailer that consumers believe sells better quality products compared to Tesco’s lowly figure of 26 per cent, down 5 per cent from last year.
Peter Walshe concluded, “Sales of Tesco are doing well despite dropping customer loyalty.
“They are still the most popular British supermarket. British consumers like to grumble but often act differently, with convenience and location playing a big part in their decision to continue to shop at Tesco.”