Best and worst supermarkets compared

The UK's definitive supermarket survey reveals the best and worst grocery stores for food quality, customer service and value for money.

Supermarkets continue to face numerous challenges, from the ongoing pandemic and associated supply chain problems to CO2 shortages, staff absences and price inflation. But some appear to be coping with these problems far better than others.

Our annual survey of more than 3,000 shoppers reveals which supermarkets are rising to the challenges they're facing and impressing their customers - and which are falling short.

The reviews we've had from people who shop with each of the UK's biggest supermarkets have enabled us to create star ratings for all kinds of aspects of the shopping experience, from value for money and online delivery service to product quality and in-store experience.

So if you're considering switching supermarket, or are simply keen to know what other shoppers think of your favourite grocer, our in-store and online supermarket reviews are here to help.

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Best supermarkets for shopping in-store

Links take you to our reviews of each supermarket. 

Note: sample sizes are in brackets. Results based on an online survey of 3,057 members of the public in October 2021.

Best supermarkets for online grocery orders

Links take you to our reviews of each supermarket. 

Note: sample sizes are in brackets. Results based on an online survey of 3,057 members of the public in October 2021.

Which is the freshest online supermarket?

We went undercover to find out how the supermarkets compare when it comes to delivering fresh food, using a team of mystery shoppers to order more than 1,000 groceries in the first – and biggest – comparison of its kind. 

During the course of the investigation, our mystery shoppers took delivery of items that were already out of date by the time they were delivered, groceries that were within their use-by date but looked too manky to eat, and one item with a completely illegible use-by date.

Log in or join Which? to discover which supermarkets will deliver the freshest produce – and which ones could leave you with past-it produce that's dangerous to eat. 

Which supermarket offers the best coronavirus safety measures?

In October 2020 we asked shoppers to rate their supermarket's in-store Covid-19 safety measures. Sainsbury's had the most people rating its measures as good or excellent with 81%, while Lidl and Iceland had the least with 66%. You can see how all the supermarkets compare below.

How do we find the UK's best and worst supermarkets?

We surveyed 3,057 members of the public in October 2021 for our annual supermarkets survey, quizzing them on their experiences with the supermarkets they use most often.

For those who did their supermarket shopping in-store, we asked them to rate how good the supermarket's appearance is as well as queuing times. We also asked whether there are friendly staff available to help with any queries.

For online shoppers, we asked about click-and-collect services for the first time this year. Customers were asked to rate whether there's usually a good choice of collection and delivery time slots, whether the supermarket chooses sensible substitutions when items are unavailable, and how good the customer service is at collection or delivery.

We asked both in-store and online shoppers the all-important questions around value for money and the quality of own-label and fresh products. 

And finally, we asked how satisfied shoppers are on the whole with their supermarket and whether they would recommend it. These two questions allow us to calculate our unique Which? customer scores.

Find out more

• Supermarket price comparison 
• How to spend less at the supermarket 
• What are supermarkets doing about the environment?